Stakeholders in the Gambia private sector yesterday took in a one day private sector workshop on technical Assistance and financial facilities from the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

Co-financed by the European investment bank and the CDE, and organized by the European Commission the workshop was aimed at giving Gambia private sector developers, information on the current negotiations on the economic partner standing between the European Union and ASP states and give a better understanding of the constraints, needs, and expectations, of the Gambia private sector.
In his opening remarks Mr. Bai Matarr Drammeh, president of the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry highlighted some of the constraints facing the Gambian private sector.

According to Mr. Drammeh the creation of employment is a function of the private sector and prerequisite for any meaningful development. He commended the European commission for organizing such a seminar which he said will create greater awareness to members of the sector and thus contribute towards their development.
For her part, the EC charge d’affaires in The Gambia described the role of the private sector as a major component of the economic partnership for Africa (NEPAD).

She added that ACP states in the full objective of their partnership which she said is the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty and the gradual integration of ACP states into the world economy.
Chapter seven of the Cotonou Agreement is fully dedicated to the private development support she said, adding that series of seminars on specific sectors of interest for the Gambia economy ranging from fisheries and tourism will follow suit.

Also speaking earlier Mr Mamour Jagne, president of the Arab Libyan Bank in The Gambia identified the constraints that have inhibited the access of funds to Gambian companies. After 42 years of independence the Gambia is no longer a young nation for we have behind us 42 years of struggle to improve on the physical quality of the Gambian people, he added.