By Lamin Kujabi
His Excellency President Adama Barrow on Thursday, 7th April presided over the cabinet meeting at State House in Banjul.
Giving the updating, highlighting the conclusion of the second cabinet meeting in year 2022, Ebrima Sillah, Minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure informed that cabinet discussed at length the current economic situation of the country as a result of Covid 19 pandemic and the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. He said cabinet is concerned with the price hike in the retail sector and its impact on the population. As a result, intimated, it has directed the National Economic Council to immediately convey a meeting to come up with recommendations that will reduce the shock on the population.
a paper on the Intellectual Property Bill 2022 was presented by Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow, discussed and adapted by cabinet ministers. The Bill is being enacted by the National Assembly. “The Intellectual Property Bill will streamline the administration of intellectual property right and will be in line with the principle of doing business with the international best practices,” he asserted.
Minister Sillah went on to mention Agriculture Minister Fabureh’s presentation on the National Food Security Path Way. The key objective of the pathway is to increase access to land financing and other productive resources that are significantly targeting women, youth and differently able persons.
“In order to accelerate the national food system path way-base, the government has committed to fulfilling its commitment of 10% of its national budget to agriculture as to the Malabo Declaration”.
He also mentioned Trade Minister’s paper on framework agreement for the recruitment of Gambians to work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aimed at creating employment opportunity and assisting to regularise the status of numerous irregular Gambian migrants currently residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Other trade and employment-related issue discussed by cabinet, according to Minister Sillah was on the promotion and the reciprocal protection of investment agreement between the governments of The Gambia and the United Arab Emirate (UAE). The agreement, he explained, will position the government of The Gambia to effectively facilitate inward investment from the United Arab Emirate (UAE) and also promote destination Gambia in UAE.
“This is with a desire to intensify their economic cooperation by creating favorable conditions for further investments”. This was approved by cabinet, according to the Information Minister.