Scholz kicked off a three-day tour in Senegal, a country with billions of cubic meters of gas reserves and expected to become a major gas producer in the region.
Germany is looking to reduce its heavy reliance on Russia for gas following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Scholz said it had begun negotiations with the Senegalese authorities on gas extraction and liquefied natural gas.
“It is an issue worth pursuing deeply, adding that progress in the negotiations is in the mutual interest of the two countries,” he told a news conference with Senegalese President Macky Sall.
Scholz said Germany is also interested in Senegal’s renewable energy projects. He did not provide further details.
On Friday, a German government official said Germany could help explore a gas field in Senegal.
Sall said Senegal is ready to move towards supplying LNG to the European market. He forecast Senegal’s LNG production to reach 2.5 million tons next year and 10 million tons by 2030.
On the matter of gas exploration, project funding and other questions, “all that remains open and we would love to work with Germany in this context,” Sall said.
Ukraine War
Germany has invited both Senegal, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the African Union, and South Africa to the G7 summit it will host in June as guest nations.
Both countries abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation aimed at demilitarizing a neighbor it sees as a threat. security of this country.
Ukraine and its allies say the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.
S
culminating in the presidency of the African Union, Sall said many African countries did not want to take sides in the war, while condemning the invasion.
“Very clearly, we want peace,” he said, “we are working to de-escalate, we are working for a ceasefire, dialogue … that is the position of Africa.”
Sal said he would visit Moscow and Kyiv in the coming weeks.
The conflict in Ukraine, a major grain and food supplier, has caused supply disruptions that have sent food and energy prices soaring in Africa.
“I expressed to Chancellor Scholz our serious concern about the impact of war,” Sall said, asking for international help to minimize the damage to European countries. Fly.
Scholz will travel later on Sunday to Niger, from where he will fly to Johannesburg on Monday night for the final leg of the tour.
