Qatari citizens across the globe on December 18th Wednesday celebrated their country’s 135 years of nationhood in different forms. In The Gambia, celebrations were held under the auspices of the Qatar embassy in Banjul at a local five-star hotel in Brufut where a broad spectrum of dignitaries gathered to witness the occasion.

The occasion saw a documentary presentation, showcasing the exponential rapid economic success and transformation in various sectors of the Gulf State’s development process. But The Gambia celebration was also an opportunity for the two small nations to reaffirm their commitment to strengthen the already existing excellent ties between them.

In his remarks at the occasion, the Qatari ambassador to The Gambia, Mohamed Nasser Al Kaabi, said the day provided the opportunity to celebrate unity and success as well as recognise and pay tribute to the nation’s founding fathers. 

“We will not be grateful without paying homage to the great men and women who endured severe hardship and paid a dear price for the unity of our nation and participate in building what Qatar is today,” he told the gathering. “December 18th is the day we remember how our national unity was achieved and how we became a respected nation,” he underlined.

The ambassador underscored that at this stage of nationhood, Qatar has achieved a lot in terms of development in all facet of national development within a short span of time.

“In the field of economy,” Ambassador Kaabi highlighted, “the State of Qatar has restructured its industry by establishing a petroleum production and natural gas and has worked on the development of these areas”. On sports development, he disclosed that the country is on the verge of hosting the world’s biggest football competition -  the 2022 World Cup that is expected to attract millions of guests across the world.

He told the gathering that in the coming year, the country would also witness the inauguration of one of the World’s biggest airports, built to accommodate 50 million passengers per year. “Qatar has established one of the largest and most prestigious universities in the world in order to facilitate the human resource development of Qatar citizens,” he stated.

He ended by thanking President Jammeh and the people of The Gambia for their warm hospitality.

In a statement read on his behalf by the Tourism and Culture minister, The Gambia’s Foreign Affairs minister, Dr. Abubacarr Senghore, said the country has noted with satisfaction, the milestone developments registered by the leadership of Qatar. The government of The Gambia, he said, has also been relentless in its drive to achieve the same developments as its Middle Eastern counterpart. The Foreign minister indicated that the country is currently on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. 

“We are however of the belief that with the collaboration and support of development partners and friendly countries such as yours, we will be at good leverage [in the march towards] achieving all the goals or most of them by the designated year, 2015,” he remarked.

Foreign Minister Senghore also dilated on the ties between the two countries, recalling that during President Jammeh’s 2010 visit to Qatar, he held discussions with his counterpart host on various areas of cooperation. This, he informed, culminated in the finalisation and subsequent signing of important agreements, tourism inclusive, between the two nations.

 “The government of the State of Qatar has valuably contributed to the health, education and social sectors of The Gambia. It has also provided funding for projects that are vital to the socio-economic development of the country. I will just seize the opportunity granted by this occasion to extend on behalf of the government and the people of The Gambia; sincere thanks and appreciation through Your Excellency [the ambassador] to the government and the brotherly people of the State of Qatar for the assistance rendered over the years,” he concluded.