It is indeed true to say that the governments and the peoples of The Gambia and Taiwan are true and genuine friends.
The two countries are always supportive of each other both in times of happiness and in times of sorrow.
The Gambia remains a loyal friend of the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) and has always been pushing for more space for Taiwan at the international arena.
Taiwan, on her part, has continued to render numerous forms of support to The Gambia in crucial sectors of our economy, fulfilling the adage that one good turn deserves another.
The most recent of these kinds of gesture on the part of Taiwan is the donation of half a million dollars by its government to the Gambia government.
The money, meant to support the Gambia government’s budgetary allocation for youth employment, came at the time when the issue of employment takes centerstage, both at the national and international level.
We would like to thank our Taiwanese brothers and sisters for being so generous to The Gambia.
The recent donation of US$500,000 will no doubt create more employment opportunities for our unemployed youth.
Once more, we commend the ROC government through Ambassador Richard Shih for always standing by The Gambia.
Meanwhile, the problem of unemployment is a serious global concern, and The Gambia is no exception.
No country should ignore the problems associated with youth unemployment, since the situation could lead to increase crime rate, dependency, idleness and many other vices that can destroy the cream of a nation.
In The Gambia, like in many other African countries, many young people do leave high school and even university only to be faced with the employment problem.
The situation does force some youths to take jobs that do not pay them well.
We, therefore, call on the Ministry of Employment to go ahead with plans to revise the minimum wage in the country.
With such an initiative, workers will receive fair treatment from their employers.
This would also address the problem of under-employment thus minimising exploitation in some quarters.
