By Mariatou Ngum
The Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment has underscored Government’s commitment to continue to strengthen partnership with the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) to build on the gains registered so far, address the gaps and new challenges that emerge, in their strive to bring more development, and contribute to the security and stability of The Gambia.
Hon Ismaila O. Joof was speaking at the 39th senior officials and ministerial session on improving e-commerce capacities of the OIC member countries, held in Turkiye.
Addressing the COMCEC on behalf of Government of The Gambia, Hon. Joof thanked the Government and the people of the Republic of Turkiye, for their generous hospitality and warm welcome.
He reminded that COMCEC Ministerial sessions are direct reflection and implementation of one of the COMCEC’s mission and that is “to provide a forum to produce and disseminate knowledge, share experiences and best-practices, develop a common language and understanding as well as adopt appropriate policies among the Member Countries.
“COMCEC’s mission is to address and find solutions to the development challenges of the Islamic Ummah. It is also premised on the principles of enhancing mobility, strengthening solidarity and improving governance to address the core and persistent challenges faced by the Islamic world in the areas of trade, agriculture, transport and communications, tourism, poverty alleviation, financial cooperation and digital transformations.
Minister Joof made reference to the Dhaka Declaration that emphasised the importance of intra-OIC economic cooperation and the sharing of experiences among OIC member-states. Intra-OIC cooperation, he added that will not only nurture Islamic solidarity globally, but will also strengthen our collective resolve and commitment to drive socio-economic development.
He informed the meeting that the COMCEC coordinating office over the years contributed to the development agenda of The Gambia through project funding across the different thematic working groups in a well-coordinated and organised manner to achieve the goals of our National Development Plan.
These interventions, according to Hon. Joof, were a manifestation of COMCEC’s common objective to support the Government of The Gambia towards boosting productivity and economic development. “The various projects implemented under COMCEC funding impacted socio-economic empowerment of the vulnerable population under the effective coordination of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment as the national focal point.
