Emerging West African hub looking to synergise with Sri Lanka, also coming to Expo 2012

Senegal, shifting gears from its slower GDP growth in 2011 to a faster rate in 2012, wants to establish trade and manufacturing synergies with Sri Lanka.

Considered to be stable, and located at the tip of West Africa being the only African country to avoid any military coup (which otherwise is a common occurrence in the African continent) or any form of ethno-religious violence so far, it has been rated by Standard and Poor’s as a B+.

“Time has come to strengthen trade between Sri Lanka and the West African hub Senegal from its current levels. Expo 2012 mega show in Colombo in March provides the stepping stone towards this,” announced Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

Minister Bathiudeen announced this to his officials after the courtesy call on him by Amadou Moustapha, newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Senegal to Sri Lanka on 6 December in Colombo.

Minister Bathiudeen also invited strong business and industry delegations from Senegal to Sri Lanka Expo 2012, the mega expo show to be held in Colombo after 15 years in March.  Moustapha has promptly accepted Minister Bathiudeen’s invitation.

The $ 13 b Senegal economy is considered as West Africa’s trading hub. It is expected to grow at a rate of 4.4% in 2012 speeding up from its 4% in 2011.

According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, the total trade between both countries in 2009 stood at $ 0.17 m, then rising to $ 0.45 m in 2010. Of the $ 0.45 m of total trade in 2010, imports totalled only a paltry $ 0.01 m (in 2009, no imports from Senegal were recorded).

The Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka also revealed that there has been a small trade volume between Sri Lanka and Senegal over the past five years with the balance of trade in favour of Sri Lanka from 2009 to 2010. Tea is the main export item from Sri Lanka while imports of a few items from Senegal in small quantities have been recorded.

“There is a need to maintain a continuous export flow and to explore the possibilities of increasing the volume of existing trade,” Minister Bathiudeen revealed.

“Sri Lanka has reported 8.4% GDP growth in 2011 third quarter, showing that the development policies of President Mahinda Rajapaksa are on track,” Minister Bathiudeen said. The low levels of current trade between Sri Lanka and Senegal show scope for strong trade growth between the two countries,” Minister Bathiudeen said addressing Moustapha.

The potential export products from Sri Lanka are ceramic products (tableware and kitchenware),  printed books, natural rubber and rubber products, brooms and brushes, umbrellas, suns heads, walking sticks, whips, precious and semi precious stones, parts of furniture, fish, crustaceans and mollusks (crabs), glass and glassware, moulds for rubber or plastic,  and textile & clothing.

“The hub outlook of Sri Lanka and Senegal reveals strong synergy potentials,” said Moustapha addressing Minister Bathiudeen. “Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers can use Senegal as a production base to reach the North American markets easily and can perform back-end operations in Senegal. They can use Senegals’ preferential access options such as EU/ACP, African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), the West African Economic and Monetary Union, to their advantage in increasing North American and EU market share,” added Moustapha.

According to the US Office of Textile and Apparel (OTEXA), the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) offers significant potential growth for the local textile and apparel industries with duty-free, quota free access to the US for products made up of either US or sub-Saharan African produced fabric or yarn.

“Sri Lankan manufacturers will also benefit from the low labour wages, often less than $ 200 per month,” Moustapha revealed. “51% of our population are youth under 20 years. Our close proximity towards North American markets and also our air-links and sea links can be used by Sri Lankan firms for prompt shipping and delivery of their products for North America,” he added.

“We also import the bulk of our textiles and apparels from Eastern Asia,” Moustapha stressed.

Taking note of the statement of Amadou Moustapha that Senegal is importing the bulk of its textile requirements, Minister Bathiudeen responded: “Being located in South Asia, and renowned world over for our apparels, Sri Lanka can serve Senegal’s apparel needs better,” to which Moustapha agreed. “Senegal’s strong SMEs can also synergise with Sri Lanka’s SME sector,” Moustapha added.