Dakar, Oct 14 (APS) – The ”Senegal 2050” development program is a collective initiative that goes ”beyond political divisions,” underlined the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, while presenting it as ”our compass” and ”the fruit of collective reflection, anchored in our realities”.
”This is a collective project, which, beyond political divisions, calls for the commitment of each of us,” declared Mr. Faye in an introductory note to the document entitled ”Senegal 2050 : national transformation agenda” and presented to the public this Monday, October 14.
The ”sovereignty” expected from this program ”can only be complete if we have the means for our economic, energy, food, but also social and cultural autonomy,” underlined the Head of State.
He affirmed that this development program “is aimed as much at today’s Senegalese as at future generations.”
”Ambitious industrialization”
With this tool, continued the President of the Republic, the government wants to make the country ”a key player” in the West African region and ”a development model for Africa”.
”This document is our compass. It is the fruit of collective reflection, anchored in our realities and open to the future. It reflects our ambition to break with the patterns of the past, to overcome the challenges that we have faced for too long, to create a nation resolutely anchored in the future,” he wrote.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye believes that the country he leads has ”inherited a complex situation, marked by decades of economic dependence, governance with fragile foundations and a weakened social fabric”.
”For too long, our economy has been prisoner of a model of exploitation of raw raw materials, without local valorization or transformation. This trajectory has not only limited our potential, but it has also robbed us of our destiny.”
Public policies carried out in previous years or decades have “created dependence on a few industries by leaving our national private sector too weak, our young people […] looking for opportunities [étant] often pushed to seek a future elsewhere.
”The Senegal 2050 program stands as the structured response to these challenges […] We took the time to accurately diagnose the dysfunctions of our system, to consult, to analyze and, above all, to formulate robust solutions for an in-depth transformation,” underlined Mr. Faye.
He specified that the new policy “is our roadmap for the next twenty-five years, broken down into five-year and ten-year strategies, which will allow us to measure, adjust, and optimize our efforts in real time.”
The first of the ”four major strategic axes” of the new program consists of establishing a competitive economy, with a clean and stable macroeconomic framework, the emergence of a digital society, competitive sectors, the development of viable economic centers, etc. .
”Correct historical imbalances”
Senegal will carry out “ambitious industrialization, integrating our raw materials into global value chains,” assured the Head of State.
”We will transform our wealth locally, we will diversify our economy to make it a real engine of growth, creator of added value and jobs,” he promised.
The second axis will consist of preserving the environment and ”bequeathing to future generations a healthy country, where biodiversity is protected, where the circular economy is integrated, where renewable energies will play a central role,” added Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The third axis, relating to human capital and social equity, will consist of ”correcting the historical imbalances which have affected the most vulnerable sections of our society, in particular women, young people and rural populations”.
”We are committed to providing quality education for all, to guaranteeing universal access to efficient health services, and to land reform for better land distribution,” promised Mr. Faye, speaking of the third part of the new national development program.
At the same time, it will be a matter of “strengthening the provision of care and [de] guarantee equitable access to modern services, both in urban and rural areas, so that no one is left behind. ”We will also establish a national health insurance system to protect every citizen and thus reduce social and economic inequalities.”
The fourth axis of the “Senegal 2050” program is that of governance and “African commitment”. ”We must rebuild our institutions so that they best serve the aspirations of our people. We must eradicate corruption and reform the administration, so that it becomes a powerful lever in the service of development,” continued the President of the Republic.
He promises that ”this governance will guarantee rigorous management of our resources”.
”Our pan-African commitment will be forcefully reaffirmed. We will strengthen our cooperation with our African brothers, convinced that the future of our continent rests on solidarity, regional integration and the defense of our common interests,” mentioned Mr. Faye in the introductory note of the document.
ESF/AKS/OID
