Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye has vowed to prioritise the manufacturing of the country's raw materials to enhance balance of trade.

Faye reiterated this commitment during an interview on the sidelines of the 8th edition of the Future Investment Initiative, organized in Saudi Arabia. The event aimed at promoting investment in participating countries.

When asked about the main priorities of Vision 2050 to achieve growth, the Senegalese head of state said underscored the importance of transformation of raw materials in the country before any export.

"We have noticed that in Senegal, and in Africa in general, there are significant mining and mineral resources, but which are exported in raw material form, not offering countries the opportunity to transform them on site and add value," President Faye noted. "We said that we had to reverse this cycle and this is the basis of the systemic transformation of our economy on which Vision 2050 is based."

He added: "We said that we must start by transforming raw materials on site, adding value, exporting and rebalancing the country's trade balance."

Senegal will need industries capable of transforming these raw materials into finished goods to improve its economy. "Obviously, this can only be done when we have industries capable of transforming these raw materials. But the world today is at a major climate concern, which imposes ecological challenges on us. And we have a 2nd pillar (of Vision Senegal 2050) which is to have a much more accessible, much greener economy, to have an economy that is both sustainable, but resilient," he added.

President Faye called for a favourable framework for investment in the transformation of raw materials.

He noted that the existing favorable conditions brought about the emergence of young economic players on which the "Investment Promotion Agency has been working for several years, to provide the best climate and the best opportunities for investors to arrive in the country in conditions."