The President of the Republic, Head of State, HE Mohamed Bazoum, arrived Monday morning March 13, 2023 in Cotonou, for a 48-hour friendly and working visit, at the invitation of his Beninese counterpart HE Patrice Talon .
Accompanied by a large delegation made up of members of the government and economic operators, President Mohamed BAZOUM was welcomed on his descent from the plane by the Minister of State Abdoulaye BIO TCHANÉ at the head of a delegation made up of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mr. Aurélien AGBENONCI and the Minister of Industry and Trade, Mrs. Shadiya Alimatou ASSOUMAN.
The presidential motorcade then moved towards the Palais de la Marina where military honors were paid to the Nigerien president, who was waiting on the porch for his Beninese counterpart. The two presidents then had a long private conversation, before joining the working session held by the ministerial delegations.
At the end of this, a final communiqué was read, before the two presidents co-hosted a press conference in the gardens of the Palais de la Marina.
During it, they underlined the excellence of Niger-Beninese relations. President Talon praised the leadership of his Nigerien counterpart in the fight against terrorism and the resilience of the Nigerien people in the face of this phenomenon. For his part, President BAZOUM praised the enormous economic progress achieved in Benin in recent years, and announced that he would visit during his stay the port facilities of Cotonou, the terminal station of the Export Niger-Benin pipeline of Sèmè Kraké and the Glo-Djigbé industrial zone.
Referring to the state of cooperation between Niger and Benin, the two Heads of State reaffirmed their desire to revitalize it: President Talon described the peoples of Niger and Benin as “Siamese peoples”. His host Mohamed BAZOUM considered that “our two economies are complementary. The Cotonou-Parakou-Malanville road is the Niger road. And we are going to reinforce this by evacuating our oil through Benin,” added the Nigerien President.
On the issue of security, the two presidents welcomed the calm at their border obtained by the cooperation between their armies.
After a face-to-face lunch with his Beninese counterpart, the President of the Republic HE Mr. Mohamed Bazoum visited this afternoon the port infrastructure of the Autonomous Port of Cotonou and the Terminal Station of the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, in Sèmè Kraké (department of Ouémé, on the southeast coast of Benin), whose work is almost 80% complete and will be completed by the end of 2023.
This was an opportunity for the Head of State to see firsthand the progress of the construction of this important component of the Export Pipeline project.
At the current stage of work, the major works of the 3 crude oil storage tanks of 100,000 m³ under construction at the Sémé terminal station have been completed, the T-401 has completed the installation of the pontoon, its accessories and was successfully launched; the pontoon and its fittings of the T-402 and T-403 are also being built in an orderly fashion, and are expected to be completed and launched for testing in early April and early April respectively. may.