President Adama Barrow today received the Dakar-based German Ambassador to The Gambia, His Excellency Stephan Roken, who was at the presidency to brief the President on the fulfillment of the promises made by the German president during his Gambia visit in 2017.
Following President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s trip, the German government inaugurated a GTTI annex institute in Mansakonko, Lower River Region, which, according to the Ambassador, will provide training for Gambian students in solar energy installation and repairs and agricultural machinery repair and maintenance. The regional extension will enable youth in the rural Gambia to acquire skills and meaningfully contribute to the development of the country.
During his 2017 visit, the German President expressed commitment to support the energy sector, and the expansion drive of The Gambia Technical Training Institute after touring its complexes.
Regarding the addressing of the energy supply deficit in the country, the Ambassador stated that his government handed over to NAWEC a capacity-building project package designed to improve electricity supply in the Greater Banjul Area through improvements in monitoring and communication.
’We did a lot of training on monitoring and we helped in communication systems but what is important is the training of engineers into collaborators of NAWEC. With this monitoring system, there will be fewer power cuts in the Greater Banjul Area.’’
The German ambassador added that the German companies that were working with NAWEC were impressed by the skills and dedication demonstrated by the NAWEC staff.
Similarly, he disclosed that a German organisation, GIZ, is implementing EU funded projects geared towards creating job opportunities for the young people of the country.