-As he Fetes Delegation to China-Africa Expo
by MariatouNgum
The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to The Gambia, H.E. LIU Jin on Thursday hosted a reception for the Gambian participants of the 3rd China -Africa Economic and Trade Expo.
Having congratulated the delegation for their successful participation in the Expo, Ambassador Jin told the Minister of Trade and delegation that The Gambia and China have a lot of consensus and thus they will try to promote their trade relations.
According to him, there is great potential as they (the two countries) are friends and they can try to find a way to cooperate in various areas and trade is one of them.
For his part, Minister Ousmaila Joof thanked the Ambassador for the reception and affirmed that during his visit to China, he saw the potential for Gambian trade to flourish.
“We met the Deputy Director of Commerce and for Trade in Sansha, and I saw an opportunity that the Gambian private sector can tap. We are currently doing a lot of import from China and for me, the reverse is what we should all focus on,” he stated.
He expressed gratitude saying the Ambassador and his team are very focused on getting The Gambia to participate in China’s economy and described it as a great opportunity. “It is not about buying and selling only; that is one side of it, but what do we take to China?” the Minister quizzed while calling on his staff and delegation from the Expo to start thinking of transformative economic approaches and strategies.
“We need to think of production and that is where we need the partnership of the Chinese government,” he added.
Mr Lamin Dampha, Permanent Secretary at MoTIEtogether with other participants in the Expo was in attendance at the reception.