A round table consultative meeting was yesterday convened between the officials of the goverment of The Gambia and the Japan on Japanese Food Aid Kennedy Round (KR), for the 2005 fiscal year at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.

The committee discussed on the effective execution of KR, food situation of The Gambia, distribution of the products, effectiveness of KR on food security, the counterpart fund, publicity, new conditions for the implementation of the KR among others.

Declaring the meeting opened, Suruwa Jaiteh, the Permanent Secretary at Department of State for Agriculture (DoSA), on behalf of the government of The Gambia, expressed delight to the Japanese people in their contribution towards the food sustainability for the under privilege Gambians.

“This aid has filled a very important vacuum in our development programs, as the money we got from the rice is plough back to the rural and average poor Gambians,” he said.

According to him, DoSA was able to procured three vehicles, 30 Motorcycles and Milling machines from the proceeds of the KR rice. He added that, they also intends to buy fertiliser from the KR proceeds. Already there are tenders for it. He then commended the Japanese for providing funds and assistance to The Gambia and expressed hope that the second phase of the proposal will be accepted.

For his part, Hajime Yazu, Seconds Secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Dakar, announced that the rice aid for the 2005 fiscal year has arrived and currently been off loaded at the Port of Banjul.

He added that, the rice is very useful to the local people and assured that Japan will continue to assist The Gambia. While he commended the Gambia for the transparency in making use of the assistance.

Dr Amadou Sowe, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Department of State for Agriculture and CONACILLS Coordinator for Permanent Inter-State Committee for Droughts Control in the Sahel, said they make sure that the rural people got two bags of rice each.

At the end of the meeting, the officials toured the Port of Banjul where 108,5469 bags of 30 Kgs of Japanese aid (KR) is currently been off loaded. The rice is estimated at 3240.87 Metric tons.