RIYADH, 23 September — The Kingdom will provide more than SR28 million to Senegal to execute a major hospital project in the West African country.
On behalf of the Kingdom, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has joined hands with organizations in Senegal to finance the 500-bed Dalal Jam Hospital project in a popular suburb of the Senegalese capital Dakar.
“This new soft loan will bring the total SFD assistance to over SR700 million utilized by Senegal so far to accomplish some major projects in infrastructure, water, agriculture, education, health and energy sectors”, said Modou Dia, Senegalese ambassador, and Boubou Niang, first counselor, in a joint interview here yesterday. Dia and Niang said that the construction on the hospital will start soon following the completion of the bidding formalities.
They said that Senegal has also been benefitted by the services offered by the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which has been assisting Dakar to implement development projects. Last year alone, the IDB made SR32 million available for implementing a few major projects within the framework of the IDB mandate, which seeks to assist IDB/OIC member countries like Senegal.
A former French colony, Senegal, which is currently chairing the prestigious OIC Ministerial Standing Committee of Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC), will organize the seventh session of COMIAC later this year. Dakar is also a founding member of the OIC besides being a member of the OIC Al-Quds Ministerial Committee. It also currently holds the chairmanship of the UN Committee for the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
Referring to the growing relations between Saudi Arabia and Senegal, they said that Dakar will send a ministerial delegation to the third conference of tourism ministers of OIC member states. This four-day tourism event, to be held in Riyadh from Oct. 6 to 9 , will be attended by tourism ministers and a host of senior officials from the OIC member countries, they added.
Dia and Niang said that Senegal will host the fourth session of the OIC tourism ministers’ conference in 2004. They said the visit of Senegalese tourism minister to Riyadh early next month will be followed by a visit of the Minister of Islamic Affairs and Endowments Saleh Al-Sheikh to Senegal soon.
They noted that President Aboulaye Wade has decided to introduce religious teaching at the primary-school level in the country, which marks the beginning of Islamic renaissance in a country where 90 percent of population are Muslims. They also called for forging closer Saudi-Senegalese cooperation in the commercial sector, saying that their country offers better incentives for Saudi and Gulf investors.
