Mauritania is making quiet but meaningful moves on the diplomatic and economic chessboard. While the broader region grapples with instability and shifting alliances, Nouakchott is threading the needle between neighborhood diplomacy and digital dreams, determined to transform both its global standing and its capital’s skyline.
President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani has been particularly busy on the foreign front. He recently played host to Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. Their meeting underscored Mauritania’s nuanced position in one of North Africa’s thorniest diplomatic tangles. Although Mauritania isn’t a claimant in the decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Polisario Front, it occupies a sensitive position as a neighbor with economic and historical ties to both sides. The country has long maintained a posture of “positive neutrality,” but its engagement with the UN envoy signals a willingness to contribute more visibly to diplomatic momentum.
Adding a splash of regional warmth to its foreign policy, El-Ghazouani recently traveled to Dakar to participate in Senegal’s 65th Independence Day celebrations. The symbolism wasn’t lost on observers: the Mauritania-Senegal relationship hasn’t always been this cozy, especially given the fraught history surrounding border and ethnic tensions in the 1980s. But today, the two countries are walking—perhaps even parading—toward mutual cooperation, bolstered by shared energy interests and transnational infrastructure projects.
Back home, the president’s vision for Mauritania’s future is materializing in cement and asphalt. Nouakchott, once described as a windswept village that outgrew itself, is the focus of an emergency urban development program aiming to overhaul infrastructure, housing, and transportation. The goal is to make the capital not just more livable, but worthy of being a modern hub in a rapidly changing Sahel.
A key component of that transformation is Mauritania’s push to ride the digital wave. With its National Digital Transformation Agenda (2022–2025), the country is working to double internet usage, improve digital services, and create jobs in the information and communication technology sector. If executed well, this could turn Mauritania into a digital anchor in a region better known for patchy connectivity than tech startups.
This digital ambition is complemented by closer links with regional economic players. Case in point: Mauritania Airlines and Royal Air Maroc recently inked a codeshare agreement on the Casablanca-Nouakchott route, reinforcing not only air connectivity but also the political and economic partnership between the two countries. For a nation still seeking to shed its image as a remote outpost on the edge of the Sahara, better access to West Africa’s commercial arteries is a strategic win.
What’s striking is the interplay between Mauritania’s foreign diplomacy and its domestic development. Its leadership is well aware that global engagement brings investment, legitimacy, and opportunity. But for that to pay off at home, streets need paving, broadband needs expanding, and cities need upgrading.
With just months left before the curtain falls on its 2022–2025 development agenda, Mauritania seems to be embracing a dual strategy: deepen its regional friendships while digitizing and modernizing its capital. It’s not an easy balance, especially in a volatile region where one misstep can echo loudly. But for now, Mauritania is walking a careful but confident line—making friends, building roads, and betting on bandwidth.
