• Senegal and Morocco will headline REF 2025 in Paris on 27-28 August, with President Faye confirmed and senior Moroccan officials expected

• Senegal will participate amid the first oil and gas production; Morocco could share views on automotive, aerospace clusters, and green energy.

• French companies from Orange, TotalEnergies, Engie, and Safran with presence in the two African countries are also participants in the event

Senegal and Morocco are scheduled to headline the international program of the Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France (REF) 2025 on 27 and 28 August in Paris. Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been formally announced as the keynote guest and will deliver a speech on international perspectives, alongside Morocco's top official. However, while a senior Moroccan delegation is expected as per the event's program, the participation of Finance Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui was not yet listed in her public calendar as of August 2025.

President Faye will arrive in Paris while Senegal transitions from promise to production. The country reached a historic milestone on 11 June 2024 when the first oil flowed from the Sangomar field, officially making Senegal a hydrocarbon producer. A second landmark came only weeks later, on 31 December 2024, when BP's Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project produced its first gas; the maiden LNG cargo was loaded in April 2025.

At home, the 158.7 MW Taïba Ndiaye wind farm—already the largest operational renewable facility in West Africa—continues to feed clean power into the national grid. In February 2025, Dakar unveiled a broad "Technological New Deal" aimed at digitising public services, expanding broadband coverage, and nurturing home-grown technology champions. Meanwhile, the Dakar regional express rail (TER) is fully operational and exemplifies the wider transport modernisation programme nounderwayay.

French CEOs will scrutinise how the government balances these opportunities with its policy stance. Dakar has signalled a review of certain extractives contracts and floated possible reforms to the CFA franc at the regional level, while insisting that both moves are designed to be market-friendly rather than hostile. The geopolitical backdrop shifted in July 2025 when France withdrew its remaining military personnel at Senegal's request, underscoring a recalibration of relations that, so far, has not disrupted economic channels.

Morocco's pitch, by contrast, rests on a decade of steady implementation of its New Development Model. Globally integrated automotive and aerospace clusters anchored by Renault, Stellantis and Safran have turned the kingdom into a preferred near-shore platform for European industry. Tanger Med, Africa's busiest container port, serves as the logistical spine for this export-oriented economy, while flagship projects such as Noor Midelt keep the country on track to achieve its target of 52 per cent renewable electricity capacity by 2030. The IMF forecasts GDP growth of about 3.5 per cent in 2025, providing a stable macroeconomic backdrop for public-private partnerships and continued expansion of export-oriented manufacturing.

Corporate conversations at REF are expected to be concrete and sector-specific. Orange Group, with subsidiaries in Senegal and Morocco, will discuss spectrum allocation, fibre roll-out, and the scaling of mobile financial services. TotalEnergies, with its deep-water exploration position offshore Senegal and its ongoing feasibility work for green hydrogen and ammonia projects in Morocco, is also part of the speaking companies.

Additional companies' speakers are from Engie, which is managing the 301 MW Tarfaya wind farm—one of Africa's most significant—and its desalination and grid projects across Morocco, while Safran is expanding its aerospace cluster around Casablanca, illustrating Morocco's move up the aviation value chain.

The commercial base remains deep on both sides of the Sahara. Roughly 270 French companies operate in Senegal, employing more than 30,000 people, and France continues to account for about 17 per cent of Senegal's total FDI stock. In Morocco, France was the leading source of net FDI flows in 2023 and remains a top trade partner alongside Spain, underpinning extensive bilateral supply chains in automobiles, aerospace, and energy.

Although no bilateral meeting at the Élysée (French Presidency House) has been announced for the margins of REF, Paris and Dakar are preparing an intergovernmental seminar to be held in Senegal later this year, according to several yet to be confirmed news reports. Any informal exchanges could involve newly appointed French Prime Minister François Bayrou, reflecting a broader reset in France's Africa policy. For both Senegal and Morocco, the stakes at REF are straightforward: translate policy momentum and strategic location into bankable projects that offer clearer risk-sharing and faster execution timelines.

Idriss Linge