Mauritania: Somelec leverages Arab/Islamic support for T&D

State utility Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité (Somelec) is planning to award further contracts as it works to upgrade its national transmission and distribution system. The government has continued to secure financing from Arab/Islamic funds, and is also looking for increased western support to reflect the important role that Mauritania under President Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz has taken in the so-called G5 Sahel and other regional security initiatives, as well as its improving economic prospects as gas exports beckon early in the next decade.