Three new ambassadors accredited to The Gambia and based in Dakar, Senegal, yesterday, presented their letters of credentials to President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh at State House, Banjul, to formally start their diplomatic assignments in the country.

The three envoys namely Dr Sukarni Siker of Indonesia, Jean-Francois Paroz of Switzerland and Auguste Richard Paracin of the Island Republic of Madagascar, have resolved to further strengthen the existing bilateral relations between their respective countries and The Gambia.

The first to present his credentials to the Gambian leader was Dr Sukarni Siker of  Indonesia. He told waiting journalists shortly after the ceremony that he will work to consolidate agricultural cooperation and provide scholarship for Gambian students to study in Indonesian institutions of higher learning.

For his part, Jean-Francois Paroz of Switzerland said his discussion with President Jammeh centred mainly on migration and measures needed to curb the illegal aspect of it.

According to him, his government will create more training opportunities for Gambians study at learning institutions in Swiss, as a ways of tackling illegal migration. He was quick to add that the phenomenon is a global problem, but both countries need more time to study the issue and come up with coherent mechanisms to curb the phenomenon.
 
He then disclosed that his government has procured new uniforms for the Gambia Immigration Department, which will soon arrive in the country.

The Malagasy envoy, Auguste Richard Paracin, said his discussion with Dr Jammeh centred on cooperation in the areas of tourism, environment and culture, amongst others.  

He disclosed that he also conveyed a special invitation from President Marc Ravalomanana to Dr Jammeh to attend the next year’s AU Summit, which will be hosted by his country.