Yesterday’s Forum organised to celebrate President of Senegal Macky Sall’s official visit to Poland was an opportunity to hold talks with representatives of both the Senegalese government and business. For several years now, Grupa Azoty has been investing in phosphate and ilmenite deposits in Senegal.

During the opening ceremony of the Polish-Senegalese Economic Forum in Warsaw, both President Andrzej Duda and President Macky Sall emphasised that Senegal was the door to West Africa. The aim of the GoAfrica programme run by the Polish government is to support exports of Polish goods to, and investments in, Africa, with Senegal playing a major role in the programme and in Poland’s long-term development cooperation plan for 2016−2020. The Polish President expressed his hope that the signed cooperation agreements as well as the Polish-Senegalese Economic Forum would support companies present on the markets of both countries. He also said that, in addition to science, fishery and infrastructure, the talks covered cooperation in the agricultural industry. “We discussed railways, motorways, and pipelines. Our cooperation would also extend to the agricultural industry, as well as food and agri-business, involving farming machinery and artificial fertilizers, and it has actually already started, as Grupa Azoty has a foothold in Senegal. I am positive that the investment projects under way now will be further developed and expanded,” stressed President Andrzej Duda. Grupa Azoty Zakłady Chemiczne Police S.A. made its first investment in Senegal in August 2013, when it acquired a 55% interest in African Investment Group S.A., which holds licences for the development of phosphate and ilmenite reserves in Senegal. Thanks to the transaction, the Grupa Azoty Group became the first Polish chemical company with its own mineral deposits. Włodzimierz Zasadzki, Vice President of the Management Board of Grupa Azoty Zakłady Azotowe Police, presented detailed information on the company’s presence in Senegal. Mariusz Bober, President of the Management Board of Grupa Azoty S.A., emphasised that Grupa Azoty was interested in tightening that cooperation and supplying Polish fertilizers to Senegalese farmers. “We are interested in Senegal as a source of raw materials, but we are also interested in supplying Polish fertilizers to Senegalese farmers. The high quality of Polish fertilizers is attested to by the quality of agricultural produce grown by Polish farmers. We would like Senegalese farmers to apply fertilizers of the same high quality, and so it may well be that the construction of the phosphate rock production facility is just the beginning of our operations in Senegal,” said Mariusz Bober, CEO of Grupa Azoty S.A. The first Polish-Senegalese Economic Forum is a momentous event in the relations between Poland and Africa, and also for Grupa Azoty. Experts are certain that phosphate rock production marks just the beginning of Grupa Azoty’s presence in West Africa.