Our foreign policy is yielding a lot of dividends in terms of the
recognition given to the country and assistance pledged to us but based on
the principle of mutual respect and the sovereignty of our nation. The past
week alone have seen the presentation of the letters of credence of at least
six ambassadors and high commissioners, two of them Poland and Ukraine being
first timers. What is even more heartening is the fact that each have
congratulated the President and people for the successful elections that
have just ended as well as pledging to support our efforts in developing the
country. I am surprised that nobody has so far reported what the new
American Ambassador to The Gambia said when he presented his letters of
credence two weeks ago. Then again, that is to be expected. You have people
who surf the net only looking for negative things to report.

From the coming to power of the AFPRC and now APRC, The Gambia is making
great strides in terms of infrastructural development geared towards
eradicating the poverty in our midst. Unlike the former PPP government that
vandalized and cannibalized sea transport, this government is making all
efforts to revitalize it. Read on.

Have a good day, Gassa.

Ukraine to rehabilitate the Banjul Shipyard says new ambassador

The new Ukrainean Ambassador to The Gambia, Butyago Volodymyr Ivanovych has
said that the Ukrainean government would help rehabilitate the Banjul
Shipyard.

Speaking to journalist yesterday shortly after presenting his letters of
credence to President Jammeh, Ambassador Ivanovych said Ukraine would also
build for The Gambia two ferries, two ships, one dry cargo ship and some
tractors to be used in the agricultural sector. Yesterday, a delegation of
Gambian specialists left for Ukraine to sign the agreement.

Ambassador Ivanovych disclosed that the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma,
holds in high esteem development oriented relations that binds the two
countries together, covering political, economic and cultural issues. “We
are ready for bilateral relations and as the first Ukrainean ambassador
here, I will do everything. possible to strengthen the relations”. He said
Ukraine has great potentials and highly developed technology that produces
goods that are in high demand in Africa and The Gambia could benefit
immensely from that.

The ambassador noted that many Gambians could receive their education in
Ukrainean universities. “We have very good prospects of constructing the dry
dock, the training of Gambian specialists in our universities and other
fields of mutual benefit to both countries,”he said.

Also speaking, the new Indian High Commissioner to The Gambia Mr Balakrisag
Shetty who also presented his letters of credence yesterday, emphasised that
he intended to strengthen bilateral economic, cultural and educational ties
amongst others, in the years to come. It is my endeavour to put in place,
good structural relations between the two countries. We should facilitate
the exchange of scholars, businessmen and investment. We are very impressed
with the good infrastructure here and we can see that The Gambia is a good
base for investment in West Africa and I hope that Gambian and Indian
businessmen would join hands for I have already visited the ports and I have
seen the gateway project and I think we can do something solid.

For his part, the new Russian Ambassador, Mr Alexandra Romanov, also on the
queue to present his credentials, promised to strengthen relations in the
fields of education, socio-economic and cultural exchanges as well as
training of personnel. “We have many areas of collaboration in the interest
of the two countries”. The three diplomats were accompanied to State House
by the SoS for Foreign Affairs, Baboucarr Blaise Jagne.

In other similar engagements the, the new Australian high commissioner,
Robert Christopher Whitty, has disclosed, after presenting his letters of
credence to his Excellency the President, that the Australian Government
would assist The Gambia with the backlog of cases in the judiciary. “We have
both agreed that we must have a judicial system that works if that system is
to enjoy any credibility with the people. We have some people back home who
have worked in that area and I have to be able encourage them to share their
expertise with The Gambia”.

The new South African High Commissioner, Mr. Oupa Tanbobeng William Mokou,
said his concentration would be centered on three areas: agriculture,
transportation and energy. “These are areas we will get our public
enterprises to come in and see what can be done”. He noted that South
Africa, being one of the biggest economies on the continent has a lot to
offer The Gambia and that during his tenure, he will work very closely with
The government to create the right conditions. High commissioner Mokou
outlined his intension to make air travel between the two countries easier.
“If you have to travel to South Africa, you first have to travel to Europe.
Why that need? It is like we are reporting to our former colonialists, which
is not a good way of doing things. We are looking to ways and means of
opening routes between the two countries, which other African counties will
surely benefit from. Our aim is to make businessmen and tourists travel
easily between the two countries,” he said.

Also speaking shortly after presenting his letters of credence to president
Jammeh, the new Ambassador of Poland, Mr. Thomasz Neigodzisz, said he
intended to promote mutual understanding between the two countries. “We
understand more about The Gambia than Gambia understands Poland”. He said
his first priority would be information and education. “We have discussed
with the president, the proposal for cooperation between the universities of
Poland and The Gambia and there is an area of investment in cement
manufacturing. “Poland is well known for fishing and naval construction.
After this ceremony, I hope to come back and concretize these proposals with
the president,” he said.










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