Kathmandu, December 30 Nepal and Burkina Faso have established formal bilateral diplomatic relations. Nepal’s Permanent Representative  to the United Nations Ambassador Durga Prasad Bhattarai and Ambassador Yemdaogo Eric Tiare, permanent representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations, signed a joint communiqué to this effect at the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in New York, this morning. Together, they signed a joint letter informing the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about this development, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release. The number of countries having direct diplomatic ties with Nepal has now reached 156. In 2017, such ties have been set up with 12 countries – making it the highest number for Nepal to do so in a calendar year so far. In New York, the two ambassadors also exchanged views on various measures to further deepen and expand the scope of mutual cooperation in future. The two countries are already working closely at the United Nations and other multilateral forums, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its release. Known as Upper Volta earlier, the name of the country was changed in 1984 to Burkina Faso, meaning ‘a land of honest people.’ Burkina Faso is a west-African semi-presidential republic, land-locked in the middle of Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. It has over 17 million people in an area of 274,200 square kilometres, with Ouagadougou as its capital. Burkina Faso, a major cotton producer in the region, is also known for periodic events on culture, wooden and metal handicraft, and pan-African film festivals. Burkina Faso joined the United Nations on 20 September 1960 following its independence from France on August 5, 1960. Both Nepal and Burkina Faso are least developed and landlocked developing countries, and members of the Group of 77 as well as the Non-Aligned Movement. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta (1958-1984), the country was renamed “Burkina Faso” on 4 August 1984 by then president Thomas Sankara.