By Yunus S Saliu
Celebrating the Israel’s 71st Independence Day, the Embassy of Israel, Dakar in conjunction with the National Centre for Arts and Culture, Banjul Wednesday evening held a reception celebrating the Israel’s 71st Independence Day celebration and the opening of photo exhibition early steps titled ‘First Diplomatic Between The Gambia and Israel 1962-1966.
The event took place at the Gambia National Museum, Banjul and was attended by ministers, directors and some other dignitaries.
Speaking at the reception, the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hamat NK Bah stated that the activity by the NCAC is in fulfillment of their mandate to promote and interpret all aspects of Gambian history and culture.
He stated that through such exhibitions, The Gambia, as a nation are reminded of the past glories and chart new ways into the future. He continued that from the exhibition everyone can see that, even before the country became independent, “our founding fathers saw the need to build friendship with others, State of Israel included.”
Minister Bah hoped that the exhibition will however help to forge ties between the Embassy, and Ministry of Tourism and Culture to enable NCAC train its staff in archaeology, museum studies, exhibition design, heritage management in Israeli colleges and universities.
The Minister lamented on some challenges facing the country which among are lack of trained Gambian archaeologist to study some of the rich archeological sites in The Gambia. He thanked the ambassador and staff for involving the NCAC in the worthy venture and also commended the exhibition team for a job well done
Ambassador Roi Rosenblit, reflected on the former Gambian President Sir Dawda K Jawara visits to Israel in 1962, 63 and 1966 and as well the signed agreement of Mutual Friendship between The Gambia and Israel among other meetings of former President Dawda Jawara in Israel.
He disclosed that Sir Dawda Jawara first visited Israel in 1962 before the Gambia Independence and the first cooperation was signed between the two countries while other agreements signed included cooperation in health care, agriculture and scholarships for Gambians to study in Israel.
He assured of revitalizing the old agreement “in 2019 we are revitalizing this old agreements and reviving the ongoing friendship,” he assured
He rated the Early Steps: Gambia-Israel Diplomatic Relations 1962-1966 exhibition to be unique saying it “represents the histories of two nations, two people, two nations seeking to share knowledge and to make world better in the same spirit of giving and doing good.”