By Mariama Njie
The National Assembly members have considered and adopted the establishment of a parliamentary friendship group between The Gambia parliament and Serbia legislative house.
The approved friendship aimed to cement the already established bilateral relationship between the two countries.
Moving the motion at the National Assembly, Majority Leader and parliamentarian member for Kombo South, Honorable Kebba K. Barrow, stated that “the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, on Tuesday 9th February 2021 received a letter of credence from the ambassador of Serbia to The Gambia.”
He noted that it is the first time ever a Serbian ambassador been accredited to the Republic of The Gambia. He added that Republic of The Gambia has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Serbia to foster parliamentary diplomacy, social and economic development between the two countries.
The two countries, he noted, have been supporting each other’s welfare, saying “the Republic of Serbia recognizes the tremendous support the government of The Gambia offered them, especially on the candidature to the position of executive council at UNESCO.
He further pointed out that the establishing of such diplomatic ties between the countries will further strengthen the political, economic, mutual trust, trade, as well as people to people
According to him, the mandate of the group is to foster inter-parliamentary diplomacy and to further contribute to the development of the bilateral relations between the two countries.
The Gambia Serbia friendship group will insist on a chairperson and eight other members, also membership shall reflect the different political opinion as well as gender, he said.
Honorable Ndey Yassin Secka, a nominated member, who seconded the motion, gave her support to the motion. She encouraged the assembly to always consider the welfare of Gambians first.
MP for serrekunda, Honorable Halifa Sallah said the objective is to expand the relationship of this parliament with another parliament all over the world.
“This is what mandated us to develop parliamentary democracy, countries will not be judge by their executives, the state will be brought to constitute its parliamentary arm and the more we strengthen such diplomacy the more we will be able to scrutinize international agreements and international relations,” he said