Senegal’s Macky Sall to promote reforms, trade ties in Osaka

According to reports, Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, is joining G20 members at this week’s summit in Osaka. It’s likely that anxiety over trade, conflict – and oil, following the recent skirmishes in the Gulf – will dominate the agenda in Japan this weekend, with participants especially focused on trade talks between US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.

For Sall, however, the visit represents a twofold opportunity for his relatively small West African nation of 15 million. For one thing, the trip will be a chance for the president to help showcase his country’s commitment to meeting key development indicators and to improving its business climate, in partnership with China, Japan, and other G20 members. Indeed, Sall was invited by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his capacity as chair of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), whose stated aims – including the eradication of poverty, the promotion of sustainable growth, and the empowerment of women – broadly chime with the summit’s main discussion topics.

More than that, however – at a time when his administration is also under fire by opposition politicians over alleged wrongdoing in an oil and gas deal – the visit is also a critical chance to hammer home Sall’s ongoing commitment to economic reforms, cracking down on corruption, and to improving transparency.

Taking Senegal to the world stage

Already, Sall’s reforms are helping to make the country more attractive to Asian investors. Notably, Chinese companies have been pivotal in helping to fund the early phases of Sall’s ambitious Plan for Emerging Senegal (PES), an effort to make Senegal a middle-income economy by 2035, with investments in infrastructure projects such as the Diamniadio Industrial Park and the Thies-Touba toll road. Indeed, the subject of continued investment from Chinese trading partners was at the top of the agenda at a recent Senegalese-Chinese Economic Forum just outside Dakar.

China is already Africa’s largest trading partner, according to the Development Bank of China, with a trade volume of $200bn. Earlier this month, Beijing hosted an assembly for members of the Forum on Africa-China Cooperation (Focac), where the previous year’s spending was reviewed and fresh targets set. China’s 2018 investment pledge amounted to US$60bn, including US$20bn for trade and development. Senegal could be a key influencer within Focac, helping to shape the continent’s socio-economic development for the future. Importantly, Dakar is set to host next year’s edition of the summit – making it all the more important that the country is perceived as having firmly shaken off its former reputation for institutionalised corruption and is ready to continue driving reform.

Tackling corruption

Despite Sall’s progress on these fronts, his government has recently become embroiled in a potentially damaging scandal relating to the allocation of oil and gas concessions and implicating the president’s brother – Aliou Sall. And despite the questionable nature of the allegations, opposition parties have already seized onto what they perceive as a golden opportunity.

Earlier this month, a high-profile BBC Panorama and Africa Eye investigation raised questions about what it says are suspicious circumstances around the acquisition and re-sale of the exploration rights to two of Senegal’s offshore blocks. Although awarded by former president Abdoulaye Wade in 2012, before Sall came into office, the report claims that Sall’s brother personally benefited from the deal. Aliou Sall has since resigned from his government post but has denied any wrongdoing, while Macky Sall has ordered a robust enquiry into the report. The accusations have been denounced as an attempt by the opposition to destabilise the government and topple Sall.

If the president can successfully weather this storm, however, he’ll likely find he is standing on firm ground. Indeed, he was returned to power for a second mandate in February to continue his reform programme, off the back of one of the highest economic growth rates in West Africa. According to IMF data, average economic growth, which hovered at 3.4% between 2006-2012, rose to 6.1% in the years since Sall was first elected. No doubt contributing to these rates was the new administration’s focus on cracking down on corruption: since Sall’s initial appointment, the government established a new National Anti-Corruption and Fraud Office (OFNAC) to support whistle-blowers, and there’s an ongoing scheme, assisted by the World Bank, that aims to excise corruption from the country’s civil service, at the same time promoting improved transparency across government agencies.

But there’s plenty more for Sall’s reforming administration to achieve – much of which will require international investment and cooperation. In order to continue his track record, it will be critical for him to emphasize the administration’s accomplishments on transparency and economic growth, and to make the most of his opportunity to represent Senegal – and its ambitions – on the world stage.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.