Senegal River Corridor

Mali is poised to break its dependence on costly overland trade routes after four member states of the Organisation for the Development of the Senegal River formally approved the launch of a long-delayed navigation project that would give the landlocked country its first direct waterway connection to the Atlantic, a development that has been on the drawing board since the 1970s but has consistently stalled on financing and institutional momentum until now.

The decision was taken at the 78th Ordinary Session of the OMVS Council of Ministers, held on January 30 and 31 in Nouakchott under the chairmanship of Mali’s …