The 43rd ordinary session of the Council of
Ministers of the Gambia River Basin Development Organization (OMVG) on Thursday
kicked off in Banjul at the Coral Beach Hotel.
The session runs from 23 to 26 March 2017,
and is being attended by delegates from all the four member states namely, The
Gambia, Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.
OMVG is a sub-regional organization,
created on 30th June 1978, and the High Commission of the organization is the
executing agency of the integrated development programmes of the four member
countries, for rational and harmonious exploitation of the common resources of
The Gambia, Kayanga-Geba and Koliba-Co rural river basins.
Speaking at the ceremony, Lasana Fofana, High
Commissioner of OMVG, described the session as pertinent for it has availed the
staff of the OMVG High Commission to meet with member state delegates, and
discuss strategies for the rapid
implementation of projects contained in the organization’s river basins’
development programme.
According to Fofana, they were able to
mobilize full funding for the interconnection project from eight development
partners, such as the World Bank, Kuwait Fund and many more.
“We have fulfilled all the conditions for
the disbursement in respect of all financing agreements signed under the Energy
Project.”
Commissioner Fofana requested member states
to speed up the process of ratifying the convention on the creation of the
Assets Management Agency of the OMVG Energy Project, which is one of the
disbursement conditions of some donors.
He thanked the President of Senegal, Macky
Sall, for providing OMVG High Commission with a modern and highly functional
building to accommodate its headquarters.
He also applauded the efforts of the
government of The Gambia in making OMVG stand strong.
Fofana praised the leaders of the four
member states for their confidence and unfailing support in the implementation
of the rewarding mission entrusted to the High Commission.
Lamin F. Jawara, permanent secretary at the
Ministry of Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Resources, said the
meeting is crucial as it has agendas that are relevant to be discussed.
“The outcome of this meeting will advise
and recommend to the council of ministers the resolutions and decisions they
will be adopting in relation to the implementation of OMVG programmes and
activities for the 2017 fiscal year, particularly the OMVG Energy Project.”
Jawara thanked the staff of OMVG for
steering the affairs of the organization in an unprecedented manner.
Mustapha Alex da Costa, a communication
specialist and institutional capacity building consultant, said the primary aim
and objective of the OMVG is to engender cooperation and integration between
the four member states.
He added that OMVG demonstrates the strong
links between them, not only in terms of the geography of the landscape, but
holistically as to their demographics.
