Yus, thanks for your input and I agree the deck is stark against Gambia and
the so called "third World" countries.  However, your this statement: "My
opinion is that as it concerns trade, we have little or no chance of
competing here", is the same thing that African countries have been saying
since their independance.  Forty years later we are still saying the same
thing.  The issue here as I see it is whether we are prepared to delay
gratification.  I used Singapore who were on the same footing as Gambia, and
in fact President Jawara used to mentioned them as what we can become
(atleast he recognized that much), because of our similarities in most
respects.  In fact they were worst off than us in terms of resources and
were surrounded by much bigger and hostile nations at the time, such as
Malaysia, etc.  They knew it was going to be painful but they also knew that
handouts is not their ticket out of their poverty.  Thus, they delayed
gratification.  So, I say, our dependancy on assistance is nothing but a
poor excuse to avoid the pain we need to go through to be successful.  On a
micro level, we all grew up seeing our brothers from Guinea Conakry for
example.  They come to The Gambia and are given a small "table lee Pohatane"
and they hit the streets.  Before you know it most in the neighborhood are
debtors to him and thus, he becomes the big store owner in the neighborhood.
  There is no easy road to success and at the rate we are going, another
forty years will pass and we would find our selves running on the same spot.
  It's our call.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou


>From: "Yusupha  C. Jow" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Another Milestone reached - Trade Versus Assistance.
>Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 09:48:42 EST
>
>I don't think that Gambia trading with USA can be classified under some
>neat
>economic theorems such as comparative and absolute advantage.  As far as
>the
>USA trading with Third World countries is concerned, most economic theorems
>completely fly out the window.
>
>For one, the global monetary system has always disadvantage poorer African
>countries.  How can we expect our business people to trade with the USA
>when
>the Dalasi is sliding faster than an avalanche on Mt Everest.  I have
>always
>been of the perception that the monetary system must be overhauled to give
>it
>some semblance of fairness in this modern age.  The Westerners had one up
>on
>us when they stole gold from Africa and elsewhere then used the "Gold
>Standard" as the monetary system.  In other words, the more reserves of
>gold
>a country had, the stronger its currency was.  Regardless of this backdrop,
>policies have to be introduced to stabilize the Dalasi.  At this point, I
>have not see any such policies emanating from the government yet.  But the
>country, for one, needs to cut down the unnecessary fiscal spending.
>
>Furthermore, everyone knows how tough it is for anyone to penetrate the US
>market.  The issue of tariffs and stringent regulations have to be
>addressed
>to give The Gambia any chance of doing business here.  One also has to
>consider the fact, that even for those rare good swhich Africans need here,
>there are other African countries who are far ahead of us when it comes to
>doing business here.  So we also have to compete with these countries.
>
>My opinion is that as it concerns trade, we have little or no chance of
>competing here.  Technical assistance will be a better gambit.  Macro and
>micro economic policies have to be installed to stabilize the Dalasi and
>also
>improve the economic standing of the country.
>
>Our house has to be put in other before we can ever dream of trading with
>the
>USA in any serious capacity.  We should keep it simple and strengthen our
>trading status with countries in the sub-region.  This way we have a sliver
>of a chance..
>
>_Yus
>
>
>
>
>
>In a message dated 3/12/2002 6:07:59 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
> > >The idea here is simple and intuitive. If our country can produce some
>set
> > >of goods at lower cost than a foreign country, and if the foreign
>country
> > >can produce some other set of goods at a lower cost than we can produce
> > >them, then clearly it would be best for us to trade our relatively
>cheaper
> > >goods for their relatively cheaper goods
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface
>at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
>[log in to unmask]
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~