Senegal's Faye makes first foreign visit as president to Mauritania

Senegal's new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Thursday visited neighbouring Mauritania on his first official trip abroad since his election at the end of March, the two presidencies said.

Faye arrived in the capital Nouakchott late morning, according to an AFP journalist.

The 44-year-old leader will conduct a "friendship and working visit" due to last a few hours, the presidencies said, during which he is set to hold talks with his Mauritanian counterpart Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, before a meeting of delegations from the two West African states.

Senegal and Mauritania share the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas field on their maritime border, jointly developed by British energy giant "BP", the American company "Kosmos Energy", the Mauritanian hydrocarbons company "SMH" and the Senegalese state-owned "Petrosen".

Production at the gas field, on which the two neighbours are pinning their hopes for development, is scheduled to begin later this year.

Read moreSenegal’s democratic transition ‘sends positive message to other regimes’, says French FM Séjourné

(AFP)

Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Read also:
Senegal’s youngest-ever president appoints ‘breakaway’ government
Senegal's newly elected president announces audit of oil, gas and mining sectors
Senegal President Faye names opposition leader Ousmane Sonko as prime minister