Banjul hosts 43rd ordinary session of OMVG Council of Ministers

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.