Senegal
Start-up success in Senegal
I decided to start up an e-commerce business in Senegal back in 2011. At the time I was still a student at the University of Grenoble in France. However I initially abandoned my entrepreneurship dream because I lacked critical elements including co-founders with complementary skillsaccess to experienced people for advice and a lack of access to information.
No. 51196. United States of America and Senegal
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Senegal regarding the Surrender of Persons to the International Criminal Court. Dakar 19 June 2003
Services and services trade in Senegal
Senegal is a West African country bordered by The Gambia Guinea Guinea Bissau Mali Mauritania and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of around 15.4 million Senegal is a key political and economic hub in the region. It is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA/WAEMU) the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) the African Union and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) among others. Services matter greatly for Senegal. It has multiple vibrant services sectors an outwardlooking mobile population and a strong impetus towards modernization including of infrastructure and policies relevant to services. The country’s overall flagship strategy “Plan Sénégal Emergeant” (PSE) refers prominently to services and the Ministry of Trade and its Direction du Commerce Extérieur (DCE) makes every effort to engage development partners including UNCTAD the WTO and other multilateral agencies in its efforts to develop policies relevant to services trade and services exports in particular.
Preface
This paper was prepared in the context of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) work in support of least developed countries’ (LDC) participation in trade. It aims to contribute to the discussion on market access for services and services suppliers from LDCs in particular in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) LDC Services Waiver Decision adopted on 17 December 2011 (hereinafter “the Waiver”).
Note
This publication forms part of the background research for the study titled “Effective market access for least developed countries’ services exports; An analysis of the World Trade Organization services waiver for least developed countries” (UNCTAD/DITC/TNCD/2019/1). The research was originally undertaken in 2017 and has been released for publication to help policymakers understand some of the intricacies behind the original study. Some details may have since changed.
Acknowledgements
This pilot case study for Senegal was prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat with co-financing from Sweden for which UNCTAD is thankful.
Introduction
This paper focuses on Senegal as an LDC and a services exporter. It does so embedded in the immediate context of the overall question of LDC services exports their promotion and the operationalization of the WTO’s LDC Services Waiver. It thus serves as a case study — one of an initial set of four — and should be read in conjunction with the overview paper “Effective Market Access for LDC Services Exports — An Analysis of the WTO Services Waiver for LDCs” which considers cross-cutting observations and conclusions.
Effective Market Access for Least Developed Countries’ Services Exports
The LDC Waiver is a legal tool that enables WTO Members to sidestep their obligation to treat all services imports equally under the Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) clause through the granting preferential treatment to services and service exporters from a Least Developed Country (LDC). It is similar to the “Enabling Clause” for goods within the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) except that the Waiver only benefits LDCs not all developing countries. It operates thus as an “LDC-only Enabling Clause for services”. The Waiver only enables preferences it does not require WTO Members to grant them nor provide them with specific ideas or tools to facilitate LDCs’ exports into their markets. This paper presents the findings of the pilot study on Senegal. Focusing on a selection of services sectors of particular export interest to Senegal this case-study assesses where appropriate on an anecdotal basis whether and to what extent the preferences granted by WTO Members respond to the market access regulatory and other barriers experienced by Senegal’s services exporters in their export market(s). By converging all available sources of information the analysis aims to identify the relevance of the notified preferences for Senegal’s services exports possible gaps and opportunities for further development of improved market access mechanisms as well as its utilization by LDC services exporters.
No. 50924. United States of America and Senegal
Air Transport Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Senegal (with annexes). Washington 11 January 2001