C, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UN Security Council
(temporary), UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMIS, UNOCI,
UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Paramanga Ernest YONLI
chancery: 2340 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 332-5577
FAX: [1] (202) 667-1882

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Jeanine E. JACKSON
embassy: 602 Avenue Raoul Follereau, Koulouba, Secteur 4
mailing address: 01 B. P. 35, Ouagadougou 01; pouch mail - US
Department of State, 2440 Ouagadougou Place, Washington, DC
20521-2440
telephone: [226] 50-30-67-23
FAX: [226] 50-30-38-90

Flag description:

two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green with a yellow
five-pointed star in the center
note: uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

Economy
Burkina Faso

Economy - overview:

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso
has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of
the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is
vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop and the
government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in
the region - Mali, Niger, and Chad - to lobby in the World Trade
Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing
countries. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but
successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised
its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign
investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring
the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold
exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in
neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still
having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. In
2007 higher costs for energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low
cotton prices, dampened a GDP growth rate that had averaged 6% in
the last 10 years. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge
Account threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary
school level, and appears likely to receive a grant in the areas of
infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$17.41 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$6.977 billion (2