By Ishmael Bayoh
His Excellency President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye on Thursday 14th November 2024 received at the Palais de la Rèpublique, letters of credence from the Ambassador of Sierra Leone to Senegal, His Excellency Mr. Ibrahim Turay.
Senegal and Sierra Leone have strong bilateral relations on which Ambassador Turay is coming to deepen the partnership between the government and people.
Ambassador Turay has a wealth of experience working in Senegal spanning over 8 years as Fisheries Expert and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in the Regional Coordination Unit of the World Bank funded West Africa Regional Fisheries Program based at the Permanent Secretariat of the Sub Regional Fisheries Commission in Dakar. He was providing technical support to ten coastal countries in West Africa.
His second coming to Dakar comes with a wealth of experience in economic diplomacy that would be of immense benefit to both Sierra Leone and Senegal as the two countries have recently signed joint trade and cooperation agreements.
Senegal and Sierra Leone on 13th June 2024 signed a joint communique during the official visit to Sierra Leone of the Senegalese President. In furtherance of the longstanding bilateral relations between the countries, they affirmed to operationalize the 2021 Joint Economic Cooperation Entity Agreement.
Those economic sectors are what Ambassador Turay is poised to actualize in the areas of mineral and petroleum, energy, manufacturing, agriculture; livestock development and food security, educational exchange programs, fisheries, trade, banking, science and technology and tourism.
Ambassador Turay is the fourth after the former Ambassadors; H.E Kadie Bassir, Ebun Strasser-King and Alhaji Brima Elvis Koroma to represent Sierra Leone in Sénégal since the Embassy was re-established in 2011.