Mauritania, international confidence and broad investment prospects

With the arrival of President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani to power in Mauritania, the African and Arab country with a vast geography and strategic location between sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb region, it became clear that President Ghazouani, who had risen gradually through military and security positions—Security Directorate, General Staff, Ministry of Defense—had made it a priority to focus on creating internal stability while maintaining balanced and controlled foreign relations with neighboring countries and international partners in various fields.

In a volatile environment in the Sahel region, characterized by coups, social unrest, and clashes with armed jihadist movements, which has led to the near dissolution of the Group of Five Sahel, Mauritania has discreetly managed, thanks to an approach based on strengthening internal cohesion and reinforcing and developing its foreign relations, to position itself as “the sole survivor” in the series of upheavals that have shaken the Sahel countries, with consequent waves of violence, irregular migration, and severe social crises.

During his first and second terms, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has focused his efforts on the dual path of internal calm and improved foreign relations, sending reassuring messages to all, based on a desire to establish balanced alliances, far removed from the language of confrontation and conflict.

In this way, Nouakchott has managed to escape the trap of its geography—characterized by its desert nature and turbulent neighborhood—to chart a course for development and work to open up economic prospects that will strengthen the confidence of its partners and faith in the future, through the implementation of structural reforms within the framework of what President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has called the “Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity Strategy,” a comprehensive national strategy that seeks to achieve sustainable economic development, social justice, and rational resource management, with a special focus on young people, women, and vulnerable groups, as well as sustainable management of natural resources.

Mauritania has also expanded its commitment to renewable energy, especially solar and wind power, while promoting environmentally friendly agricultural and water projects and stepping up investment in productive sectors, particularly energy, agriculture, fisheries, and digitalization.

This has led to a number of results, including an improved business climate and control of economic balances, according to positive reports from international partners, including the International Monetary Fund.

All of this has created a situation of internal stability and won the trust of partners and investors, making Mauritania, in recent years, an almost permanent and sought-after guest at global economic forums.

Likewise, peaceful and balanced diplomatic relations with all countries have made Mauritania the most conducive country for cooperation and dialogue, maintaining, despite the heated atmosphere in the Sahel and tensions in the Maghreb region, a space of cordiality and primacy of the language of dialogue, without getting involved in disputes between countries in the region, applying a policy of positive neutrality in most of the rivalries between its neighbors.

Mauritania has continued to pursue policies of outreach to cooperate with international partners, from the United States to Russia and China, including the countries of the European Union, with which Nouakchott has strengthened its economic and security relations through Spain, the European country geographically closest to Mauritania, given that it shares a maritime border with the Canary Islands, which poses challenges in terms of irregular migration, smuggling, and cross-border crime, with repercussions for Mauritanian, Spanish, and European security.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani stressed in a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that the focus in the region should not be exclusively on security, but also on development, through support for the economies of African countries and the creation of opportunities for investment, employment, education, and health.

The Mauritanian president is scheduled to meet with the Spanish prime minister and the European Commission president at the Seville Summit on Development, which is a new opportunity to reiterate Mauritania's approach to security and development, which has enabled it to emerge from the turmoil in the region, strengthen international confidence, and open up investment prospects.

Mohamed Lemine Khattary – Mauritanian journalist