By: Lamin B. Darboe
The International Monetary Fund, IMF Resident Representative in The Gambia urged the Government of The Gambia including Labor representatives to ensure that the Gambia benefits from enhanced regional trade integration.
Madam Ruby Randall made the statement at a local hotel in Kololi at a 3-day capacity building workshop for Trade Union leaders in the country with the theme: “The Gambia’s Pathway to Prosperity: A Role for Labor.”
Organized by The Gambia Trade Union Bureau (GAMTUB) with funding from ILO and ACTRAV office in Darker, Senegal and the theme for the workshop was: “Unity Organizing and Collective Bargaining”.
According to Randall, the first pillar to prosperity is regional integration which she described as the main driver for transformational change that can help catapult The Gambia on the “pathway to prosperity”.
She suggested that facilitation of enhanced trade in goods and services, such as tourism, increased private capital inflows, and remittances from Gambians working abroad will further boost foreign exchange reserves and strengthen confidence in the Dalasi.
“Africa is now moving ahead with creating the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), which The Gambia recently endorsed and once established, this initiative has the potential to create a market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion,” IMF boss informed GAMTUB leaders.
It can potentially add jobs, foster competition, help increase investment, and spur the spread of knowledge and technology, all of which she said could provide significant benefits to The Gambia and her citizens.
The AFCFTA agreement itself Madam Randall went on is one step and she explained that, to fully benefit from the AFCFTA, the significant non-tariff bottlenecks to trade that exist across the region will also need to be tackled.
These she added, include infrastructure shortcomings, logistical costs, and other hurdles that hinder cross-border trade adding that if these issues are addressed, regional trade integration can help maximize the returns on important public investments, such as the Senegambia bridge, and consolidate the recent pick-up in private sector activity and lending that is integral to sustainable development in The Gambia.
As Trade Union leaders, IMF boss urged them to best personify the hopes of the Gambian people, as they seek to ascertain that the working men and women of The Gambia are treated with dignity and receive a fair share of the growing economic pie.
“This workshop was being convened now, on the heels of the recent meeting of the Ministers of Labor and Employment from ECOWAS held recently to examine the proposals for the harmonization of Labor laws and regional program for “decent work,” Madam Randall stated.
