The top officials at The Gambia Revenue Authority will today end the three days annual bilateral meeting with their Senegalese counterparts in Dakar.
The meeting which commenced on Wednesday aimed at reviewing an agreement on the customs of cross boarder movement of people and goods between the two countries.
In his opening remarks, the Commissioner General of Gambia Revenue Authority, Alagie Yankuba Darboe described this year’s meeting as fruitful and commended their Senegalese counterparts for the warm reception given to them.
This year marks the 9th meeting of its kind between the two states.
He called on the two Customs administrations to work collectively and protect “our states with a human countenance”.
“As Experts from both Administrations meet to discuss our common issues, “I challenged you to come with practical solutions to the issues identified,” he said.
Let’s enhance our border cooperation to facilitate free movement of people and goods across the borders, he added.
He then continued: “Let’s communicate, let’s network together, let’s share intelligence and let’s share best practices within and between our respective administrations for better service delivery as well as the security for our peoples and governments; adding that “the borders should not be used as our barriers because before the borders were created, we were first of all one and the same people. I believe our diversity as people, administrations and countries should be served as our strength rather than weakness,” he said.
He expressed high sense of hope about the meeting by saying; they will come up with clear and practical recommendations for consideration.