Commissioner Sédiko Douka leads an ECOWAS high-level advocacy mission to the Government of Senegal in support of the West African Fund for the Development and Financing of the Transport and Energy Sectors (FODETE)

Commissioner Sédiko Douka leads an ECOWAS high-level advocacy mission to the Government of Senegal in support of the West African Fund for the Development and Financing of the Transport and Energy Sectors (FODETE)

Dakar (Senegal), 15 May 2023. The ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation, Sédiko Douka, led a high-level advocacy mission to the Government of Senegal on 11 and 12 May 2023 in Dakar, within the framework of the establishment of the Fund for the Development and Financing of the Transport and Energy Sectors in West Africa (FODETE). The mission organised by the Project Preparation and Development Unit (PPDU), in collaboration with the ECOWAS National Office in Senegal, afforded the delegation the opportunity to meet with several authorities, including Mamadou Moustapha BA, Minister of Finance and Budget of Senegal.

The main objective of the advocacy mission was to sensitise key Ministers of the Senegalese Government on the FODETE project, highlight the merits of FODETE as a sustainable financing mechanism for infrastructure, and discuss the planning for the re-launch and implementation of FODETE, which has been temporarily stalled due to the COVID pandemic.  The mission, which followed the one carried out in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, also provided an opportunity to inform the Senegalese authorities about the forthcoming data collection missions to update the FODETE study, as well as to notify them that the results of the study will be presented to the ECOWAS governing bodies in December 2023.

On Thursday 11 May, the ECOWAS mission was received in audience by Mr. Issa Dione, Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Petroleum and Energy of Senegal, in the Ministry’s conference room. Following the different presentations, Mr. Dione acknowledged the importance of FODETE, which is an initiative already supported and championed by H. E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal, during the major meetings held in Dakar on infrastructure financing in Africa. The Permanent Secretary promised to update the supervising Minister and noted that FODETE is a commendable mechanism that will enable ECOWAS Member States to take charge of their transport and energy infrastructure.

The audience with Hon. Mamadou Moustapha Ba, Minister of Finance and Budget took place on Friday 12 May in the office of the Senegalese Accountant General. In his presentation, Commissioner Sédiko Douka recalled the operating mechanism of FODETE, the principle of which is to make deductions from the revenue generated by the export of various oil, gas, mining and agricultural products and other economic activities of Member States. The ECOWAS Commissioner also underscored the fact that all ECOWAS Member States have agreed in principle to the establishment of FODETE, but the initiative by the Heads of State and Government since June 2009 has yet to be formally implemented due to the lack of an official instrument governing the deduction of levies.

Before wrapping up his presentation with an appeal to the Senegalese Minister of Finance and Budget for his support towards the establishment of FODETE, Commissioner Douka revealed that studies and simulations have shown that it is possible to generate up to 350 million US dollars per year from revenue generated by the export of various products by ECOWAS Member States.

Noting that FODETE is consistent with the objectives and six priorities of his government’s Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PSE), Minister Mamadou Moustapha Ba invited ECOWAS to consider several parameters to update the ongoing studies, notably the tax burden imposed by each Member State, the currency reserves available to States and their use, particularly in the context of international trade (exports and imports).

He concluded by stating that the current studies should take into account the legal framework and the economic profile of Member States as well as the current global economic crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

It is recalled that the Fund for the Development and Financing of the Transport and Energy Sectors (FODETE) was adopted at the 36th Ordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in June 2009. The ECOWAS Commission and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) are responsible for its implementation.

Following the presentation of the participatory feasibility study at the 30th Ordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) held from 14 to 20 November 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria, the AFC called for broader consultation which took place in November 2019 in Lomé, followed by national consultations involving relevant ministries, departments and agencies in each Member State. In March 2022, a regional consultative meeting was organised in Dakar to present the results of the national consultations and reach a consensus on the levy rates and governance structure of FODETE.

The main recommendations of the regional consultations focused on the update of the macroeconomic and financial component of the FODETE study and fielding of an advocacy mission by ECOWAS to the four Member States (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal) that are the major contributors to FODETE.