Senegal leader warns EU of competition from China, India

(BRUSSELS) - Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade called on European nations on Wednesday to boost their aid to Africa, warning that countries there might turn to Brazil, China and India for economic help.

"Africa wants to cooperate with Europe, but if Europe shuts itself off from Africa when we have India, China, Brazil coming to offer us the same things as Europe at lower prices and with extraordinary credit conditions over 15 or 20 years, well that is also part of the economic reality," he said.

"Europe is becoming less and less competitive as far as Africa is concerned," he told reporters at the European Commission in Brussels.

"I'm telling you frankly, I'm telling you sincerely, I'm telling you as a friend in the hope that you think about all that and that together we find the means to boost cooperation between Europe and Africa," he said.

"Three or four centuries of cooperation should not just disappear," he added.

"We must talk about this and keep in mind the economic realities."

Wade criticised notably the EU's Mediterranean Union project, which he said focused more of Europe's resources on nations around the Mediterranean rim than the countries further south.