In a flurry of engagement at the State House, President Yahya Jammeh, yesterday, received five ambassadors who were in the country to present their letters of credentials to the Gambian leader.

The batch of foreign diplomats included Her Excellency, Madam Agneta Bohman, ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden; His Excellency Mr RI Kyong Son, ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary of the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea; Her Excellency Madam Lambin Nee Gallie Colotte of the Republic of Ivory Coast; His Excellency Mr Ali Kaya Savut of Turkey; and His Excellency Mr Hypolyte Ouedrago of Burkina Faso.

A guard of honour was mounted for each of the diplomat as they arrived, at the gate of State House, by personnel of the state Guard Battalion, before been ushered in to meet the Gambian leader.

Speaking to reporters shortly after presenting her letter of credentials to Professor Jammeh, the Swedish plenipotentiary told journalists that she had the opportunity to discuss with the president cordial relationship between the two countries.

According to Madam Bohman, although her country is not having a direct cooperation with The Gambia, it indirectly contributes to The Gambia’s development strives through its commitment to the European Union.

The North Korean diplomat told journalists that his discussion with the Gambian leader centered on the need to reinforce the relationship and cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the area of agriculture.

“Our main area of concern is how to develop agriculture to ensure food self-sufficiency for The Gambia,” he said. While indicating his country’s interest in exploring investment opportunities, Mr Son expressed hope that in his capacity as the North Korean diplomat to The Gambia, he will do his best to develop, improve and maintain the good relationship that exists between the two countries.

Madam Lambin Nee Gallie Colette, the Ivorian diplomat to The Gambia, told journalists about the special relationship between The Gambia and Ivory Coast. She expressed hope to strengthen it further for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.
According to her, the Gambian leader had expressed the need of developing South-South cooperation since our development lies in that line of direction.

She told journalists that their policies were good at the level of the relationship between the two countries, but was quick to state the need to go further in developing trade relations between Banjul and Abidjan.

His Excellency, Mr Ali Kaya Savut, ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, said that the need for the expansion of the long standing relationship between Banjul and Istanbul was among the issues he had discussed with the Gambian leader. He described The Gambia - Turkey relationship as excellent, singling out in particular the area of security cooperation.

Ambassador Savut emphasised the need to strengthen the cooperation to other areas, particularly to increase trade volume between the two countries.“We should try to increase the trade volume between the two countries. This issue was agreed to by the Gambian leader and he even emphasised the need to improve economic ties in a bid to attract more Turkish investors to The Gambia,” Ambassador Savut said.

The Burkina Faso ambassador to The Gambia, Mr Hypolyte Ouedrago, told reporters that his discussions with president Jammeh centered on the need to promote regional integration for the development of West Africa. He said that during the course of their discussion, they also raised the idea of coming into joint commission in a bid to gather their resources together to accelerate the development strives of the two countries.

“Hopefully, next year, we will start to set up the joint commission to finally set the pace for our development objectives”, the Burkinabe ambassador underscored. While conveying greetings from his president to the Gambian leader, the Burkinabe plenipotentiary described president Jammeh as a great Pan Africanist with great ambitions to not only develops his country, but the entire sub-region.