Mrs Naffie Barry described The Gambia as an entry point into the Ecowas regional market. “The Gambia as a member of Ecowas has access to a population of more than 250 million with huge trade and investment opportunities.
She made this remark at a technical meeting of Turkey-Gambia joint economic, scientific and technical cooperation recently at Kairaba Beach Hotel. The Meeting was attended by a high level delegation from Turkey and senior Gambian civil servants and diplomats.
PS Barry added: “The Gambia continues to experience high growth rates, strongly recovering from 2011 drought with a GDP growth of 5.6 percent in 2013. The Gambian economy is expected to expand to around 6.5 percent in 2014, with robust growth in tourism and agriculture. This is also supported by a positive outlook in the Ecowas subregion which is expected to grow by 6.5 percent in 2014 and 6.8 percent in 2015.
“I therefore call on the Gambian and Turkish business communities to leverage on this and strengthen to explore opportunities to increase trade and investment. I hope the private sector from both countries will further enhance their business networking and linkages and work towards achieving our common objective of expanding our bilateral trade and investment. The cooperation between The Gambia and Turkey in various areas has indeed been an outstanding example of a meaningful partnership for mutual benefit. We should work together and explore our complementary efforts for trade and investment expansion. At the international level we have been friends together with other countries as members of OIC, WTO and the United Nations and other international organisations in the search for peace and stability and in promoting the interest of developing countries. The Gambia will continue to work closely with Turkey to ensure that our common objectives for the maintenance of world peace and security are achieved.”
By Isatou Jawara
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