Visit taking place ahead of proposed visit by Senegalese president
Portugal and Senegal will cooperate more with fisheries, ports and other activities linked to the sea and in training in the areas of tourism and diplomacy, the two countries’ foreign ministers said today.
Speaking to the press in Dakar, where the 3rd Luso-Senegalese Joint Commission was held, Portugal’s foreign minister, João Gomes Cravinho, and his Senegalese counterpart, Aïssata Tall Sall, announced memorandums and agreements in these areas, and the preparation of others.
“We have signed two agreements, and our teams have worked on identifying other areas of cooperation,” said João Gomes Cravinho explaining these involve “a memorandum to strengthen diplomatic training” between the institutions of the two countries that work at this level, and an agreement in the area of infrastructures.
The minister noted the importance of the sea and the fisheries sector, among other aspects of the blue economy, in cooperation between Portugal and Senegal, which has a border with Guinea-Bissau, and said that the secretary of state for maritime affair, José Maria Costa, and the secretary of state for fisheries, Teresa Coelho, identified opportunities for the two countries to develop these areas together.
This is “a sector undergoing transformation,” the minister noted, and besides fishing, there are new opportunities, “for example, to exploit the sea for pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
The Senegalese minister stressed that the economy of the sea, its protection, and “the management and exploitation of ports” are areas of the economy that the two countries should deepen.
“Senegal welcomes the experience Portugal has in this sector and wants to provide to our country,” said Aïssata Tall Sall.
In training in the fisheries and marine sector and also “in tourism, and in tourist and hotel training,” the Senegalese head of diplomacy saw “possible paths of cooperation,” stressing that her country wants “broader and more intense” cooperation with Portugal.
The two ministers also spoke, during their meeting this morning, about the visit of the president of Senegal, Macky Sall, to Portugal, which may take place in June and which would be the second by a head of state of that country, six years after the first.
This Luso-Senegalese Joint Commission is taking place again almost a decade after the previous meeting.
On the sidelines of the commission’s work, the Portuguese foreign minister will be received this afternoon by Macky Sall.
Gomes Cravinho will also visit the port of Bargny-Sendou, with a Portuguese company in charge of building two terminals, and the Portuguese Language Centre of the Cheikh Anta Diop University.
As part of this trip to Africa, the minister will also visit the capitals of Gambia and Mauritania, with meetings scheduled with counterparts on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, respectively.
LUSA
