15 Senegalese business enterprises have confirmed their participation at this year's month-long trade fair and exhibition in Freetown which opens on 26 March, according to Ralph Ese Donnu Sawyer, Sierra Leone's Information Attaché in Dakar.
This was officially disclosed to the Sierra Leone embassy in Dakar by Senegalese Agency for the Promotion of Goods for Exportation (ASEPEX), in response to an invitation by the Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce.
Aly Mboup, the Secretary General of the Senegal Chamber of Commerce, said this would be the first time his country would taking part in the trade fair. He said such an initiative would give wider publicity and exposure for business investments and trade collaboration between the two countries.
After a series of meetings with officials of the Senegal Chamber of Commerce, the Sierra Leone embassy in Dakar says modalities were being put in place for a high-powered delegation from the Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce to lead a trade delegation to Dakar for a meeting with their counterparts after which a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed.
Senegal has flourishing industries in the areas of textile, building materials, cosmetics and art and craft.
In another development, Minister of Transport and Aviation, Leonard Balogun Koroma has extended a letter of invitation to his Senegalese counterpart, Ali Haidar to visit Freetown. It follows an announcement of an initiative of Ambassador Khadijatu Bassir last year that the two countries would start a direct sea transport link, with Senegalese businesspeople sending vessels to ply the route.
Minister Haidar said that negotiations for the purchase of three boats were far advanced and assured that one would be ply the Senegal-Sierra Leone sea route passing through Guinea Bissau, Gambia and Guinea.
(C) Politico 30/01/14
