Twenty-five Gambian students, who were selected to undertake Bsc elite degree programme in Information and Communication Technology at the National Taipei University of Technology, were on Friday night, hosted to a dinner by Dr Patrick Chang, Taiwanese Ambassador to The Gambia, at his residence in Kotu.

The dinner, which was preceded by an induction at the Offices of the Gambia National Petroleum Company (GNPC), was also attended by media chiefs, press officer at the Office of the President, officials of the GNPC, and senior staff of the Taiwan Embassy in Banjul.

At the dinner, Ambassador Chang expressed his delight to host the students, who will leave for the Taiwanese capital of Taipei on September 13. He also used the opportunity to spur the students to live up to expectations, punching out the importance of their university programme to the realisation of the Silicon Valley initiative by President Yahya Jammeh. He implored on the students to pursue their education with extreme diligence in order to build a solid foundation for the attainment of the silicon vision of the Second Republic.

Dr Chang said the drive to open up more opportunities for Gambians in diverse fields of studies would not be confined to ICT. He then disclosed that other areas, such as civil engineering, are being explored to enable other Gambians to be trained in them.

Fafa Sanyang, Commissioner of Petroleum, emphatically urged the students to be sincere to their academic work, as well as maintain team work among themselves. Mr Sanyang also urged the students to be each others keeper and never betray the trust and confidence the country bestowed in them.