By Mariatou Ngum
The Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE), Hon. Baboucarr Ousmaila Joof, recently inaugurated The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency’s (GIEPA) new board of directors, at a ceremony held at the ministry’s conference room in Banjul.
In his inaugural speech, Minister Joof thanked His Excellency President Adama Barrow for considering the appointment of these key ex-officio members to work with the technical team to support GIEPA and take it to the next level.
He reminded the new board that GIEPA’s mandate is to promote export and investment, encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise developments. Thus, he expressed belief that these areas are important for employment generation and wealth creation and that it is important for the Board to pay attention to them to create more opportunities for young folks and enterprising women.
“Considering the high trade deficit, it is important that we work together to promote investment in the productive sectors of our economy to increase exports levels as that would narrow the gap in deficit,” he noted.
Mr Abdou Touray, the new board chairman thanked President Barrow through the Trade Minister while assuring the Minister that the board and management are committed to making GIEPA a unique one-stop-shop body that assists investment and enterprise development and to be among the best investment and promotion agencies not only in the sub-region but also in the whole of Africa.
“We as a board have the commitment, passion and humility in GIEPA’s act and strategic plan,” he concluded.
