President Moon Jae-in and Senegalese President Macky Sall held a summit today on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was President Moon’s first summit with an African head of state since he took office. Senegal is a leading African democracy that has achieved a transfer of power for the first time in 40 years.

The two heads of state noted that Korea and Senegal had a common denominator in that they had advanced democracy in an exemplary manner. The two leaders could relate to each other in particular because they shared a common governing philosophy about creating jobs and empowering women.

Senegal is also an importer of Korean-made weaponry. In 2016, Senegal signed a contract with Korea to purchase four KT-1 trainer aircraft. President Sall gave a high evaluation to the outstanding performance of the Korean-made trainer plane, expressing the hope that bilateral defense industry cooperation would be further stepped up in the future.

President Moon expressed his appreciation to his counterpart for the fact that Senegal, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, has supported Korea`s stance in the international arena. In response, President Sall said he would actively join forces in responding to the North Korean nuclear issue.

Expressing his hope for the success of the Plan Senegal Emergent, the socio-economic development blueprint of Senegal, one of the major recipients of Korea`s Official Development Assistance, President Moon proposed that the two countries further enhance cooperation in various sectors, including agriculture, education, healthcare and infrastructure.  

President Sall reminisced about having received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Pukyong National University when he visited Korea in 2015. He also commented that Korean automobiles and mobile handsets were very popular in Senegal and that he considered Korea, with its economic development over a short period of time, an important role model for his country, expressing affinity with Korea.

In response, President Moon expressed his expectation that Korea’s experience of making a leap forward from an aid recipient to a donor country would benefit Senegal. Then, the President also asked for Senegal’s cooperation on the thorough implementation of the U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against North Korea.