MoS V Muraleedharan to visit Senegal from October 24-25

According to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA), the Dakar Forum has been held annually since 2014. This year, however, is the first instance of ministerial level participation from India. “The participation of the MoS in the Dakar Forum underscores the importance that India attaches to peace, security and developmental issues relating to Africa. The visit is also in line with India’s policy to accelerate and deepen its engagement with Africa,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.

India and Senegal have strong bilateral ties. Bilateral trade between the two countries was close to $1.3 billion in 2018-19. There is also a strong foundation for development cooperation.

According to the MEA, “Senegal and India also cooperate under the rubric of TEAM-9, the Technoeconomic Approach to the Africa India Movement which includes India and 8 countries in West Africa, namely Burkina Faso, Chad, Cte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal.”

High level leaders of both the countries meet frequently. Senegalese President Mackie Sall visited India in 2015 and 2017 and also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 and 2019. Other ministers from Senegal, departments such as education, sanitation and petroleum, have also visited India. India’s Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and former Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar also visited Senegal in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Senegal is also home to a small expatriate community of 500 Indians. These individuals are working on large scale development assistance schemes which have been extended by India to Senegal. According to the MEA, Indian Lines of Credit (LoCs) are in “sectors like agriculture and irrigation, transport, rural electrification, fisheries, women poverty alleviation, IT training and equipment, medicine, railways”.