This article describes India's development partnership with Mali, including lines of credit, solar energy projects under the International Solar Alliance, grant assistance, COVID-19 support, ITEC training and defence contacts. Its source is the bilateral brief on Mali published by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), dated April 2026.

Forms of assistance

According to the MEA brief of April 2026, India extends development assistance to Mali in the form of concessional Lines of Credit (LoC), grant assistance, and capacity building training under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scheme. The brief describes India as a close development partner of Mali.

Lines of credit

As of April 2026, India has extended seven Lines of Credit worth around US$ 303.6 million to Mali. The brief lists the projects implemented, signed or approved as:

  • rural electrification and the setting up of an agro machinery and tractor assembly plant in Mali (2005)
  • acquisition of railway coaches and locomotives from India (2005)
  • an electricity transmission and distribution project from Ivory Coast to Mali (2007)
  • a second electricity transmission and distribution project from Ivory Coast to Mali (2007)
  • the Mali-Ivory Coast interconnection link, integrating the national power grids of the two countries (2009)
  • agriculture and food processing projects (2009)
  • a power transmission project connecting Bamako and Sikasso via Bougouni (2011)

Six of the seven projects have been implemented. On 29-30 June 2006, a delegation led by Secretary (West) visited Bamako for the public handing over of 300 tractors and agricultural implements, including threshers and harrows, locally assembled in Bamako under the US$ 12 million LoC to Mali under the Team-9 initiative. The brief records that the ceremony was attended by the President and Prime Minister of Mali, the entire cabinet and five thousand people.

Bamako-Sikasso power transmission project

The US$ 150 million power transmission project connecting Bamako and Sikasso via Bougouni is the seventh LoC project and was under implementation as of April 2026. It involves:

  • turnkey construction of a 225 kV double circuit transmission line between Bamako and Sikasso via Bougouni (395 Kms)
  • construction or extension of five power substations, in Sikasso, Bougouni, Sanankoroba, Kodialani and Dialakorobogou
  • electric connectivity for seven localities along the Sikasso-Bamako route

The LoC for the project is extended partly bilaterally (US$100 million) and partly through the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) (US$ 50 million). The brief states that the project is in its final stages.

Solar energy and the International Solar Alliance

India and Mali are founding members of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Mali signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement on 2 October 2017, and India has extended assistance to Mali under the ISA framework.

At the ISA Founding Conference in New Delhi in March 2018, three solar projects in Mali were selected for LoC financing, two on a bilateral basis and one through EBID:

  1. a sustainable village using solar photo voltaic technology for irrigation of 2500 ha of agricultural land, valued at US$ 22 million
  2. a 50 MW Solar Photo-Voltaic Power Plant in Fana, valued at US$ 60.65 million
  3. 2 MW Solar Photovoltaic plants in Mopti, through EBID, valued at US$ 8 million

As of April 2026, the LoC offered by the Government of India for the first two projects was under consideration by the Government of Mali.

Grant assistance

India has also provided grants in the form of equipment and other support. The brief lists:

  • IT equipment worth CFA 10,036,500 for Mali's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, announced during the Vice President of India's visit to Mali and handed over on 14 April 2017
  • CFA 8,772,251 for scanning equipment to digitise documents of the African House of Photography, Bamako, under Mali's Ministry of Culture, handed over in November 2020
  • CFA 2,806,500 for basic obstetrics equipment for a newly built Community Health Centre in Missirikoro, Sikasso, handed over in December 2020
  • motorcycles, desktop computers, laptops and printers for the National Police School, gifted on 02nd October, 2023

COVID-19 support

After a telephone conversation between the two Foreign Ministers in April 2020, the Government of India donated 5871.7 Kgs of life saving medicines to Mali in two consignments. The first was received on 19 May 2020 by Mali's Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Mr. Michel Sidibe. The second, of life-saving medicines and healthcare accessories, was handed over on 10 June 2020 to Dr. Mama Coumaré, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.

India also supplied 396,000 units of Covid-19 vaccines to Mali under the COVAX facility on 3rd March 2021.

ITEC training

Mali was initially offered 60 ITEC slots, which were later enhanced to 70. According to the brief, about 306 officials and Malian nationals from the private sector have been trained under ITEC during the last 8 years. Malian police officers have recently used ITEC slots for courses in cyber security, drug law enforcement and the investigation of anti-corruption cases, including procurement and contract frauds.

Defence contacts and training

Malian defence personnel regularly take up training slots offered by India's Ministry of Defence under ITEC-Defence. In 2012, two Malian military officers took part in a training programme conducted by the Centre for UN Peacekeeping in Delhi.

The brief records these defence visits to India:

  • October 2022: Major General Sidiki Samake attended Defence Expo 2022 in Gujarat and met India's Defence Secretary, Shri Ajay Kumar.
  • 27-30 March 2023: Col. Mamadou Samake and Col. Moussa Goita took part in the inaugural Conclave of Chiefs of Armies of African Nations and the second edition of the Africa India Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX-2023) at Pune.
  • 09-13 February 2025: a four member delegation led by Major General Sidiki Samake, Secretary General, Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, attended Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru, where he met Raksha Mantri (RM) Shri Rajnath Singh.