by Mariatou Ngum
The ECOWAS National Office (ENO) under the Directorate of Regional Integration of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE) on Tuesday, August 22 2023, commenced a two days Sectoral Programme Committee (SPC) meeting at the Senegambia Beach Hotel, Kololi.
The meeting aims to bring together stakeholders to provide an update on the implementation of ECOWAS programs and projects to ensure effective collaboration in the regional integration process and strengthen the ECOWAS programs at the national level.
The Committee also serves as a platform for the ECOWAS National Office to get updates for more effective execution of its mandate as the link between the ECOWAS Commission and The Gambia while making the coordination, facilitation, and monitoring of ECOWAS projects, programs, and activities at the national level more efficient.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Abdoulie Jammeh, deputy permanent secretary, on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of MoTIE, welcomed the participants to the bi-annual meeting, while thanking the ECOWAS National Office for organising the forum. He informed the participants that all the sectors that are involved in the implementation of the ECOWAS programs were there to share the implementations of their various programs related to ECOWAS.
The objective of the meeting, he said, is for each sector to share what they are doing in the implementation of ECOWAS programs and projects and to ensure effective collaboration between the various stakeholders involved in the regional integration process. The meeting, he added, was also designed to strengthen the integration of ECOWAS programs.
As a member state of ECOWAS, he went on, “The Gambia is fully committed to the regional integration process and in particular to the implementation of the various community programs and protocols which have bearings on the socio-economic development of the community and its citizens.”
According to him, the long-term vision of ECOWAS is to create a borderless region where the population has access to its abundant resources and can exploit them through the creation of opportunities in a sustainable environment. Therefore, he said, the objective for the vision of ECOWAS also seeks to establish an integrated region within which the population enjoys free movement, has access to efficient education and health, engaged in economic activities, and lives in dignity in an environment in peace and security.
Ndeye Tabara Touray, director of Regional Integration and head of ECOWAS National Office in The Gambia, stated that they are responsible for coordinating all the ECOWAS programs in The Gambia and they have been engaging their stakeholders including Ministries, institutions, and organizations that are working directly under their purview and outside of the Ministry of Trade in the implementation of their ECOWAS activities and programs that they are implementing in their various institutions to enable them to achieve their agenda.
In an interview with Mr. Baboucarr Ceesay, a participant who is also the director of Competition, at The Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (GCPCC) affirmed that the meeting helps MoTIE to coordinate all the ECOWAS programmes. As the director responsible for Competition, he revealed that The Gambia is one of the first countries that have a competition law within ECOWAS, and that is why today most of the ECOWAS competition policies take their stem from The Gambia.
He added that the country has been playing a very big role in developing the ECOWAS competition law and the advantage it has as a country in taking this lead means its national laws will be reflected in its regional programs.
