By Omar Bah
The People’s Republic of China has pledged visa exemption for Gambian diplomatic and service passport holders, President Adama Barrow has confirmed yesterday.
The president made this announcement as he stepped off the plane from China where he spent the past seven days on the invitation of the Chinese president.
“We have corporations in areas such as visa exemption for diplomatic passport and service passport and also technical corporations on tourism, economic and agriculture,” the President told waiting journalists at the Banjul International Airport.
Diplomatic ties
“We were there to cement and strengthen the relationship between the two countries…there was a break…but we assured them that this break was not the wish of The Gambian people…It was a decision of the former head of state and I think that message was very clear,” he explained.
Signed agreements
Barrow said they have also signed lot of agreements; such as the Basse-Koina Road, Fatoto-Passamass Bridge and Basse-Wuli Bridge in the cost of $75 million all on grants.
Chinese potentials
China, he said opened up to the world 39 years ago and they were able to develop China within a period of 39 years considering the size of their country and the population.
“If they were able to succeed and develop that country of that magnitude within a short period I see no reason why Gambia cannot do it…but we need to change the mindset and have the belief that we can do it…the spirit of unity must be there,” he added.
“In partnership with China I believe Gambia has a lot to learn, because I think if we learn from China we can succeed within a short period considering the size of the Gambia and her population,” he said.
“We support China because they succeeded in that….and I think if you want to succeed you have to copy things that are positive. That is why we we will support them at every level both in bilateral and multilateral levels to the benefit of both countries. It is a win-win situation,” he concluded.
