Govt-Mauritania Ministerial Conference Held

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Musa Ndow

1 June 2011

A joint ministerial conference between The Gambia and Mauritania was held Tuesday at the Jama Hall at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.

The meeting, among other things, aimed at renewing and strengthening the technical cooperation between the two countries. It also looked at the outstanding bilateral issues that were discussed earlier and have not been met in the areas of education, health and agriculture. Experts from both countries further agreed to strengthen cooperation in health, education, tourism and agriculture.

In a brief welcome address, Mamadou Tangara, the minister for Foreign Affairs and Gambians Abroad expressed delight at the cooperation between the two countries. He said: “It is with great pleasure to welcome you all at home and to express how happy we are to receive you from Mauritania. We hope and pray that this is the beginning of a very strong relationship between the two countries.”

Minister Tangara used the forum to urge experts from the two countries to discuss the issues of concern to both countries and to fashion a way forward for a stronger relationship. He added: “These are instructions from the two leaders who want to see how to give a new lease of life through cooperation between The Gambia and Mauritania and intensify it so that it can be mutually beneficial for both countries. We are very much looking forward to the next joint commission between Mauritania and The Gambia and we would work with our colleagues from Mauritania to see how best it can be held in Nouakchott.”

Hamadi Ould Hamady, the Mauritanian minister of Foreign Affairs expressed delight at the warm welcome accorded them. “We have been feeling very much at home despite the fact that we don’t share borders and don’t share the same language but we have gone very far in our relationship because of the mutual affection of friendship and brotherhood that we all share and the efforts we all deploy in the ongoing relationship. We are here indeed for a technical cooperation but we also want to bring in a little bit of politics and cooperation combined to cement ties between the two countries,” he stated.

According to him, the development of the private sector is indispensible to the expansion of the economy of any country. “So if we want our politics to move forward and be fruitful, we need to have a strong economical part, despite the fact that even though we share a lot of geographical, cultural and human characteristics, which in fact makes it very valuable for us to exchange ideas and interact economically and politically for the development of our countries,” he added.

The Mauritanian minister for Rural Development, Ibrahim Ould Mbauck, gave a rundown of the opportunities attached to the cooperation. He also spoke about the land of Mauritania, the people, history, government, political situation, economy and foreign relations. He said Mauritania is a country endowed with natural resources such as petroleum, fish, iron ore, gypsum, copper, gum arabic, phosphates, salt and gold.

Bilateral cooperation between The Gambia and Mauritania started in the early 1990s. Since then, the two countries have had a few joint commissions in Mauritania and in Banjul in 1993 and 1996 respectively, with the latest in 2008.

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