Senegalo-Gambian customs administrators discuss bilateral issues
Posted by African Press International on April 11, 2008
Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no source.apa
In a bid to ensure the free movement of goods and people across their borders, the customs administrators of The Gambia and Senegal ended their 6th bilateral meeting on Wednesday at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Banjul.
The two-day meeting was part of a periodic consultative session in which issues pertaining to road transport, customs border posts and exchange of information between the customs departments of the two countries are discussed.
Being a follow-up to a previous bilateral meeting held in Dakar two years ago, the meeting, among other things, sought to strengthen the cordial relationship that exists between the two countries and provide a conducive environment for the enhancement of bilateral trade activities.
In his opening address to the meeting, Mousa Bala Gaye, the Gambian minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, in a statement read on his behalf, expressed concern about the issue of smuggling. He said that the practice not only undermines the economic policies of the two countries but also makes them an unfavourable investment destination.
The challenge currently facing developing countries generally and our two countries in particular is how to minimise, if not to eliminate entirely, all and any tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in order to ensure that our two peoples benefit from this cordial relationship between our two nations, he added.
According to Bala Gaye, some of the issues earmarked for discussion could not wait long to be resolved since they adversely affected the trade and therefore act as a disincentive to investment and business.
Also speaking at the forum, Mr. Momodou Tambajang, Commissioner General of Gambia Revenue Authority, expressed the view that having a bilateral meeting between The Gambia and Senegal is of utmost importance as it gives them the opportunity to deal with specific issues and concerns that are peculiar to the two countries.
Economic growth, development and integration cannot take place in the absence of free trade and the movement of goods and people.
Our role as customs institutions of both countries is merely to serve as facilitators of this interaction so as to ensure movement of goods and people, Mr. Tambajang added. For the Gambia Revenue Authority boss, The Gambia and Senegal cannot afford to allow mere administrative bottlenecks and unreasonable competition to dilute the potential that trade can earn the people and governments of the two countries.
For his part, Armand Jean Jacque Nanga, Director General of customs in Senegal, described the bilateral meeting as a step in realising a real integration of the two countries economies.
The Senegalese customs boss said the bilateral meeting will help to strengthen the existing cooperation between the two countries, adding that the meeting was also timely as it was scheduled at a time when commodity prices were escalating.
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