The National Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Senegal (Unccias) works to strengthen cooperation between Senegal and Arab-Islamic countries. In this sense, the organization, which brings together the consular chambers of Senegal, organized, last week, a meeting with diplomats from these countries accredited to Senegal. The objective of this meeting with all the ambassadors is to establish economic relations with Arab-Islamic countries to develop partnership and investment, according to the president of Unccias. Serigne Mboup clarified that this partnership will be oriented towards priority sectors such as agriculture to achieve food self-sufficiency.
In the opinion of Mactar Lakh, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, who chaired this meeting with diplomats from the Arab-Islamic world, this initiative was due for a long time. Because, according to him, trade with the Arab world is not well developed, both in Africa and in Senegal. “At the African level, it is regrettable to note that the commercial potential of the two regions, which is estimated at around 3.4 trillion dollars, is only realized at a level of 200 billion dollars. In this prism, Senegal’s commercial exchanges with the Arab-Islamic world are the typical example of the timidity of our commercial relations. Of the top 30 suppliers to Senegal, there are only 3 Arab countries on the list, notably Saudi Arabia which is in 6th place among Senegal’s suppliers, Morocco in 14th and Egypt in 25th place. Exchanges concern agro-business, horticultural products (fruits and vegetables), fishery products, crafts, digital, software solutions, financial inclusion, hydroelectric energy, renewable energy, tourism , etc.,” informed Mr. Lakh. According to the representative of the Minister of Industry and Trade, “the concentration of Arab products means that many potentialities that are within our reach have not yet been realized.” This is why, he says, “to succeed in the challenge of transition and diversification, we need to move towards a model of trade in products with high added value”. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry and Trade thus recommends solutions to succeed in this partnership with the Arab-Islamic world. As a first step, he suggests using the trade agreements argument. “There is still no free formal trade linking African countries and Arab-Islamic countries.
The non-existence of treaties of this type disadvantages some of our sectors which have real export potential such as horticultural products, plastic products, chemical products,” explains Lakh. Which gives as a second recommendation, to “invest in trade facilitation by encouraging the revision of certain restrictive legislation and certain unnecessary administrative procedures, the harmonization of standards, rules of origin and rules on labelling”.
And thirdly, he recommends “targeting high-potential sectors, such as the horticultural sector, whose untapped potential for African countries is estimated at nearly $2 billion.”
An opinion shared by Serigne Mboup who considers it necessary to have chambers of commerce to consolidate the actions of economic operators in the different sectors and at the same time represent Senegal in chambers of commerce abroad.
For his part, the ambassador of Mauritania to Senegal also magnified the idea. According to him, this partnership can guide them towards something stronger and more beneficial. He believes that “political relations are one thing, but economic relations are more important. This is an opportunity for all of us to work in this direction.” Panels were thus organized to better refine this initiative, which aims to explore opportunities, consolidate partnerships and promote Senegalese-Arab-Islamic economic and cultural cooperation.
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