APA – Dakar (Senegal) – President Bassirou Diomaye Faye picked Mauritania and Gambia for his first official trips abroad.
The new Senegalese president received a warm welcome in Nouakchott and Banjul last week.
Inaugurated on 2 April, Bassirou Diomaye Faye visited his Mauritanian and Gambian counterparts on 18 and 20 April.
As he reminded his government at the Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday 24 April, the aim of these visits was to strengthen good relations with Senegal’s neighbours. But it was also an opportunity to discuss issues of common interest.
In Mauritania, President Faye discussed five issues with his Mauritanian counterpart, Mouhamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani. They had converging views on ‘strengthening cooperation on defence and border security’ between their two countries in the face of the cross-cutting threats from terrorism, transnational organised crime, international trafficking in drugs and humans, and irregular migration.
The ‘fruitful’ discussions between the two leaders then focused on ‘revitalising fisheries cooperation’. To this end, President Ghazouani assured them of his country’s “willingness to share fishery resources and to promote an exchange of experience” in the management of these resources, the Senegalese head of state said on Wednesday. The effectiveness of such an initiative would have to be ensured by “stepping up joint maritime surveillance to combat pirate vessels”.
Regarding the delay in work on the Rosso bridge on the border between the two countries, they agreed that “the bottlenecks must be removed” if the project is to continue. Energy cooperation through the Senegal-Mauritania Grand-Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project was also discussed. The 28-month delay over the work on this platform was highlighted, as was the “need to form a single united bloc” to confront the British operator, British Petroleum (BP), “so as not to disappoint the expectations of the people.”
After Nouakchott, Bassirou Diomaye Faye travelled to Banjul to discuss ‘all areas of cooperation’ with Adama Barrow. The focus was on defence and security, ‘an area in which Senegal will continue to support The Gambia’ in its quest for stability. President Faye was able to secure from his counterpart the suspension of a tax increase on Senegalese cement, a measure taken by the Gambian authorities that had angered many Senegalese entrepreneurs.
The two countries also pledged to step up the “fight against criminal acts of illegal logging and trafficking” and cooperation in the fisheries sector. In particular, consultations are planned to ‘consolidate the achievements’ in terms of facilities granted to Senegalese and Gambian fishing interests. The same applies to the free movement of persons and goods, as well as land, air and sea transport, which “will be constantly monitored”, the 44-year-old Senegalese president explained.
ODL/ac/lb/as/APA