Senegal, Finland poised to deepen ties

Senegal is keen on bolstering ties with Finland and diversifying its cooperation with the European country to make of it a great partner in the future.

“The low level of partnership between the two countries is the reason why we want to deepen this cooperation with Finland, which is called to become a great partner for Senegal”, Senegal’s top diplomat Aïssata Tall Sall said at a joint press conference with her Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto who was on a visit to Dakar.

“Since 1988, we have signed a framework agreement with Finland, which is a good partner, even if the volume of trade between our two countries remains very low,” she added.

“We need to expand our cooperation framework to other sectors such as clean energy, oil and gas development, telephony, hydro diplomacy, trade, security in the Sahel and food sovereignty.”

Echoing the Senegalese Foreign Minister, Haavisto expressed Helsinki’s eagerness to deepen ties with Dakar, noting that Senegal boasts an environment that is conducive to business.