The government of The Gambia under the ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment in collaboration with the Gambia Chamber of Commerce (GCCI), UNDP, Gambia Growth and Competitiveness Project (GCP), and GIEPA held the third long-awaited economic summit with the chosen theme; 'Developing the productive sectors to accelerate growth and employment in The Gambia'.
Held yesterday at the Kairaba Beach hotel, the two day summit which was attended by development partrners, senior government officials, NGOs among others mainly focuses on the agricultural, insurance, and informal sector of the economy.
It comes at a better time when the government of the Gambia is in its toe developing a new planning framework - Programme for Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE) - which according to president Jammeh focuses on "growth and employment".
President Jammeh was speaking through the vice president, Dr Isatou Njie Saidy, when he cited the relevance of the summit, saying "The importance of productive capacities for economic growth and employment with consequential impact on poverty reduction is evident in the development experience of developing countries which have managed to achieve sustained and substantial poverty reduction over the last 30 years."
For him: "The under-development of productive capacities is the missing link between the expanding international trade which many LDCs [leased developed countries] have achieved in recent years. The over-dependence on a few primary commodities for our export earnings is part of the reasons for the vulnerability and instability of the economies of most LDCs. Consequently, our economies remain fragile due to their excessive vulnerability to various shocks, and this could be arguably linked to our weak productive and supply capacities."
For the NGOs, private sectors, and others, he called: "We must therefore come together to build a genuine partnership that would enable us to face the daunting challenges of socio-economic development." Whilst he echoed his popular calls for Gambians to override the development of the country, he was not hasty to say "I must emphasise that the development of this country cannot be anchored on the benevolence of others." He could not have said more than this; "We must look within and make maximum use of our available resources human, material and financial."
Abdou Kolley, minister of trade, regional integration and employment underlined his hope for fruitful outcomes, noting that the outcomes of the summit would be a tool for accelerating growth, reduce poverty and create further employment.
He highlighted the positive outcomes of the last economic summit which was held in 2003, while cautioning that this summit would not be a talk-shop. For Kolley, eight years ago, the central theme of many fora were availability of basic facilities such as electricity, telecommunications etc, and saying the focus now graduated to more on "affordability". Citing the ACE fibre cable on the pipeline for making internet affordable, available and accessible, Hon Kolley said internet access will enhance in coming years.
Bai Mattar Drammeh, GCCI president emphasised on the importance of the agricultural, insurance and informal sector, saying the three sectors play a vital role in the economy and key growth areas. For agriculture he explained that there are 49 LDCs with a population of more than 800 million people, who represented the poorest and most vulnerable segment of humanity and are at the very epicentre of development emergency. He observed that international trade market opportunities are also changing, with growing integration of global agricultural supply chain and the emergency of large economies.
As regards insurance, he said this sector is considered an infrastructural pillar of the financial services sector and the economy. "Insurance companies form a growing part of the domestic financial sector and closely linked with macroeconomic factors such as inflation, currency, controls, and the national income. Speaking further, Drammeh said insurance improves individuals' quality of life and increases social stability by way of individual health and life insurance, pension funds and workers compensation.
Drammeh who also dwelt on the informal sector of the economy pointed that The Gambia as an LDC country; the contribution of the informal sector to the GDP is greater than the formal sector's contribution. He advised that measurements still need to be done on women's contribution to the GDP, through their informal activities, saying "The informal sector represents a very high proportion of trade employment as well as trade GDP".
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