Nfamara Jawneh, a sub-editor with the Point Newspaper and a youth activist returned to the country on Monday August 17th 2009 from the Republic of China on Taiwan, where he attended the 2009 Taiwan Youth Culture and Study Tour.

Mr. Jawneh, together with four other Gambian youths namely Louise Moses Mendy from State House, Marcel Mendy of NYC, Lamin Dibba of the Daily Observer and Ms. Lalla Jaiteh of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MOFA represented the Gambian at the international youth forum.

Speaking to this reporter yesterday, just a day after his arrival, Jawneh described the visit as interesting, educative and interactive. He commended the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan, and their embassy in Banjul for facilitating their participation.

“Out of 73 participants from more than twenty countries The Gambia and Swaziland were the only African countries who participated in this forum. This in itself symbolises the strong ties between Banjul and Taipei”.

According to him, the tour accorded them a unique opportunity to visit so many interesting places in Taiwan.

He commended the government and people of Taiwan and the China Youth Corps, the organisers of the event, as well as MOFA Taiwan, the sponsors for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded them.

“The tour definitely avail us the unique opportunity to have a clear picture of Taiwan, thus know more about the Island both economically, socially and politically,” he stated”.

According to him, Taiwan is a great country in all aspects of development and a mover in the world’s economy.

On why it took them a week to arrive in the country after the successful completion of the programme, he attributes it to the lack of flight connection.

“We couldn’t come on the final day of the event and the subsequent two days because there was no connection. Secondly, and most importantly when we arrived in Nairobi on the 13th from Taiwan via Hong Kong, we found that the Kenya Airways staff are on strike and instead of us transiting within two hours sadly for us we were stranded there for more than 30 hours as a result of the strike. But other than that we really enjoy the trip with no problem in Taiwan. It was an amazing experience,” he said.