The President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Moktar Sissoko Embaló, arrived in Azerbaijan on February 27, marking yet another milestone in Azerbaijan’s deepening engagement with Africa. As Baku intensifies its diplomatic and economic outreach across the continent, this visit signals a broader shift—one where Azerbaijan positions itself as a key player in Africa’s energy, security, and development sectors.

It's puzzling to consider how a distant African country could be of interest to Azerbaijan, particularly given that it ranks among the five poorest countries in the world. Although there are many questions surrounding this situation, it's evident that such visits should never be regarded as routine.

This visit is particularly significant, as it follows President Embaló’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where discussions centered around rare earth metals—an increasingly critical resource in global geopolitics. Commenting on that meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov highlighted Russian companies' interest in joint mining projects, underscoring the growing importance of this sector.

The timing is notable. Just before the visit of Guinea-Bissau’s president to Moscow, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on Azerbaijan’s accession to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, a UN-approved initiative aimed at preventing conflict diamonds from financing armed groups in West Africa. Details of rare earth minerals in Guinea-Bissau are limited to small-scale production of construction materials, such as clays, granite, limestone, sand, and gravel. The country's prospective minerals include bauxite, diamond, gold, heavy minerals, petroleum, and phosphate rock. Perhaps, the topic likely featured in Baku’s high-level discussions.

Welcoming his counterpart, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized the historic nature of the visit and reaffirmed........

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