| Chapter 2: | Linguistic and Demographic Profile of Senegal |
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imports (Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie, 2007, p. 51). Instead, its imports from the EU represented 53.01% of its total imports in the first 3 months of 2007. Less than half of its total imports (i.e., 26.85%) came from France in 2007 (Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie, 2007, p. 49).
The forceful invasion of Asian (particularly Chinese and Indian) businesses and investments to Africa has been deeply felt in Senegal. In 2007, as much as 22.57% of the country's total imports were from Asian countries. The Republic of China is the major importing country, representing 6.41% of the total Asian importsinto Senegal(Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie, 2007, p. 51). The unparalleled strengthening of Chinese business interests in Senegal has been accompanied by the unexpected arrival of Arab investors. In May 2007, Dubai Port World, an Emirati group, took over the management of the Port of Dakar from the Bolloré Group, a well-known and well-established French group in logistics and transport in Senegal. This takeover created history in the French investment community in Senegal, as the Bolloré Groupe (Bolloré Group)had controlled the Port of Dakar since the colonial days. In addition to the takeover of the Port of Dakar by Dubai Port World, the control of the Diamniadio Free Zone—the largest free zone near Dakar—was given to the Jabel Ali Free Zone, another United Arab Emirates (UAE) private investor.
In addition, Indian investment has recently strengthened in Senegal, with the Indian Farmer Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) having been granted control of the financial resources of the largest phosphate company in West Africa (located in Senegal) after being a controlling partner for several years. In 2008, the IFFCO agreed to invest the equivalent of US$100 million annually in the Industries Chimiques du Sénégal (ICS; Chemical Industries of Senegal) so that it could eventually control all of the financial resources of ICS—to the disadvantage of its French competitor, Groupe Rouiller (Rouiller Group)(Sambe, 2008). This situation has raised a number of questions about the future of French businesses and interests in Senegal because the two major French groups (especially Bolloré) that have lost a substantial part of their economic