Within the framework of SESRIC Project “Promoting Gastronomy Tourism for the Destination Senegal”, which has been successfully listed for funding by the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) under the 12^th Call for Project Proposals, the Centre organised a Workshop on “Enhancing the PPPs in Gastronomy Tourism in Senegal” on 1-3 September 2025 in Dakar, Senegal.

The workshop brought together representatives from public and private sectors who are responsible for tourism development in Senegal, as well as prominent speakers and competent experts from relevant partner countries and institutions. The main objective of the activity was to discuss mechanisms of enhancing public-private partnerships (PPPs) towards the advancement of tourism sector, with particular emphasis on gastronomy tourism. In addition, various sessions discussed the role of digital transformation and exploring new trends in digital culinary marketing, as well as the adoption of sustainable and eco-friendly practices from the partner countries. The workshop concluded with certificate distribution ceremony for the Senegalese participants and competent experts who contributed to the success of the activity.

This workshop comes as the second capacity building activity of the Project after the successful implementation of the virtual Training Course on ‘Enhancing Gastronomy Tourism Promotion in Senegal: Marketing and Branding’, on 8-9 July 2025. The opening of the workshop also included the commemoration ceremony of Dakar as the OIC City of Tourism for 2025, which took place on the sidelines of the 2025 Africa Food Systems Forum Summit on 1 September 2025.

The commemoration ceremony was organised in alignment with the relevant resolution of the 12th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM), held in Khiva, Republic of Uzbekistan, in June 2024.

The COMCEC Coordination Office (CCO) introduced the COMCEC Project Funding (CPF) in 2013, a financing mechanism that funds projects submitted by the OIC member countries and relevant OIC Institutions. The funding is provided in the form of a grant through the Development and Investment Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, a main body in the CPF scheme. Since the initiation of CPF, SESRIC has implemented 16 projects so far under various cooperation areas and sectoral themes determined by the CCO.

For more details about SESRIC projects funded by the COMCEC, please visit: https://www.sesric.org/tcd-activities-projects-funded.php.