Bassirou Diomaye Faye chaired yesterday in Istanbul the opening ceremony of the Türkiye-Senegal Investment Forum, alongside Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz. In his speech, the Head of State stressed the importance of private investment as a driver of economic growth and job creation, as well as Senegal’s strengths in terms of political stability, natural resources and strategic position in West Africa. The President of the Republic thus invited Turkish companies to invest in key sectors such as agro-industry, energy, manufacturing, infrastructure and tourism, while encouraging sustainable partnerships.
This business forum, organized in collaboration with Apix and the Council for Foreign Economic Relations of Turkey, marks a major step in strengthening relations between Senegal and Turkey.
The president of the National Council of Employers (CNP), who took part in this forum, recalls that “the Turkish and Senegalese private sectors have started a diversified cooperation in order to build mutually beneficial partnerships and strengthen the Istanbul-Dakar axis.”
Today, argues Baïdy Agne, “if cooperation between our two countries is going well, this should encourage us to redouble our efforts in order to bring it to a maximum level of productivity and performance through a concrete and innovative partnership, a transformative partnership for our economies and of proven mutual utility.”
For a more dynamic business partnership with the Republic of Türkiye, the Cnp believes that action must be taken on two levels. First, “promote access for young Senegalese to qualifying and upgrading training in Turkish companies.” Indeed, explains Mr. Agne, “we need know-how, as well as Turkish models of productivity, flexibility and mobility at work. In the business world, we all know that behind training courses lie many opportunities for business partnerships.” And secondly, he calls for “further promotion of mechanisms and other instruments of technical and financial support for the creation and development of Senegalese-Turkish joint ventures.” This, he specifies, “must be done to promote exports of goods and services between our two countries, but also to facilitate co-investment, co-contracting, as well as the transfer of technologies and skills.
