AFI Executive Director Alfred Hannig visited Senegal on 28 August en route to Maputo for this week’s 2015 AFI Global Policy Forum (GPF).

Hannig met Amadou Bâ, Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning of Senegal (Ministère de l’Economie et des finances du Sénégal), to thank the Ministry for its regular participation in AFI’s working groups, the African Mobile Phone Financial Services Policy Initiative (AMPI), and other activities, and congratulated the Minister on Senegal’s efforts to advance financial inclusion.

Senegal has made several commitments under the AFI Maya Declaration, including promoting digital financial services and strengthening consumer protection, and the Minister pointed to the AFI Network as a rich source of peer knowledge exchange and innovative financial inclusion policies, which are also in line with the objectives of the “Plan Senegal Emergent”, adopted by the country’s highest authorities to transform Senegal into an emerging economy by 2035.

Bâ reaffirmed the full support of the Ministry of Finance of Senegal to AFI and its transformation to a fully independent, member-owned institution.

The Secretary General of the Ministry, Cheikh Tidiane Diop, and his colleagues then exchanged ideas with Mr. Hannig about how to deepen financial inclusion in Senegal and achieve the greatest impact.