The foreign ministers of Togo and Kyrgyzstan held a preparatory working session on Monday, laying the groundwork for unprecedented bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Just hours before the official visit of Council President Faure Gnassingbé to Kyrgyzstan, the foreign ministers of the two countries kicked off the proceedings. Robert Dussey, Togo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, met Monday in Bishkek with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Zheenbek Kulubaev, as part of the preparations for this meeting.

The two officials reviewed prospects for bilateral cooperation between two countries with distinct trajectories but driven by a shared desire to diversify their international partnerships.

Discussions also focused on coordination within international organizations, an increasingly strategic area for countries seeking to exert greater influence on the multilateral stage.

This preparatory meeting demonstrates the seriousness with which Lomé is approaching this rapprochement with Bishkek. Far from being a mere courtesy visit, the meeting between Faure Gnassingbé and President Sadyr Japarov promises to be the starting point for a substantial bilateral relationship between West Africa and Central Asia—two regions of the world that still know too little about each other yet have much to share.