China and Senegal Seek to Elevate Bilateral Ties as Model for Global South
On 27 June 2025, Chinese President XI Jinping warmly received Senegalese PM Ousmane Sonko at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Sonko arrived in the Chinese capital after attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions which took place in Tianjin from 24 to 26 June 2025.
The high-level Senegalese delegation included the Minister of Economy Abdourahmane Sarr, Minister of Technology Alioune Sall, Minister of Industry and Commerce Serigne Diop, Minister of Water Resources Cheikh Dieye, and Minister of Infrastructure Yancoba Dieme, as well as the Director-General Bakary Bathily of the Investment Promotion Agency (APIX).
In his welcome address, President Xi recalled that he and Senegalese President Bassirou Faye co-chaired the last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (#FOCAC) Summit held in Beijing in 2024. He reiterated that China is willing to strengthen partnership with Senegal under the 10-Point Action Plan arrived at during #FOCAC2024.
The 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People (#P2P) Exchanges will be an opportunity to foster civilizational dialogue and enhance mutual learning in various fields such as culture, education, tourism, sports and youth.
Firstly, PM Sonko reaffirms Senegal’s stance in favor of the One-China Principle, then he expressed his country’s willingness to reinforce partnership under the Belt and Road Initiative (#BRI). In particular, Sonko outlined his country National Development Plan (#NDP) codenamed #SenegalVision2050. Recently, Senegal has uncovered large reserves of hydrocarbon off its shores and would welcome investment to monetize this resource.
Some of the priority areas of the Government of Senegal revolves around #FoodSecurity, #EnergyTransition, #WaterSecurity and #Digitalization. As one of the flagship projects under #SenegalVision2050, Senegal plans to build a Digital City in Dakar to boost #AI adoption and bridge the digital gap. On the Chinese side, social housing and tourism projects seem to attract the greatest interest.
During his visit, PM Sonko also visited Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, at the invitation of the provincial Governor LIU Jie. Governor Liu recalled that President XI once occupied his post, and in 2003, he put forward the #Strategy88 in to set direction of the development of Zhejiang Province. Today, Zhejiang has now ranked as the top province in terms of trade with Africa. While in Zhejiang, he also took a tour of Alibaba, BrainCo and Chint.
With its business-friendly climate, PM Sonko believes that Senegal can act as the gateway to West Africa and ECOWAS with a market of 400 million people. In that regard, Tianjin port was invited to partner with Senegal to develop shipping and logistical infrastructure. On the sidelines of the Summer Davos 2025, he also had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Vietnam and Singapore to reinforce ties among the #GlobalSouth.