The
Ministry of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters yesterday,
6 January, 2020, received office equipment worth two million dalasis from the
Chinese government through the Chinese Embassy in Banjul.
The
items donated by the Chinese Embassy to the ministry includes 20 desktop
computers, 6 TV sets, 20 sets of printers, 20 sets of filing cabinets, 6 sets
of air conditioners, 80 boxes of A4 size paper, 5 sets of scanners, 40 sets of
toner cartridges and 40 sets of UPS 800F.
Speaking
at the handing over ceremony, vice president Dr. Isatou Touray said that the
provision of the office equipment to the Fisheries Ministry was an important
and timely development, following the unfortunate inferno which destroyed the
buildings of both the ministry and the Department of Water Resources on 2
December 2019.
“The
fire incident ravaged office equipment, office furniture, important documents
and files of both the ministry and Department of Water Resources,” she said.
V.P
stated that the provision of the office equipment will undoubtedly go a long
way in supporting the ministry and Department of Water Resources to settle down
and continue their very important work towards national development.
She
further acknowledged the efforts by the People’s Republic of China, saying that
the two countries share a long and common standing bilateral relationship based
on mutual respect and recognition of the sovereignty of the two countries since
the first republic.
For
his part, H.E MA Jianchun, sympathised with the Gambia government on the recent
fire outbreak that engulfed the Ministry of Fisheries last month and burnt down
nearly all the office appliances.
“In
order to help the Ministry of Fisheries tie over the difficulties at an early
date, the Chinese Embassy has decided to donate office supplies and equipment
worth 2 million dalasi to the ministry,” he said.
He
emphasised that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the
bilateral cooperation in the field of fisheries with The Gambia, sincerely
supports The Gambia to take new road of industrialisation and encourages some
Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in The Gambia.
The
ambassador pointed out that with the approval of The Gambia government, the
Chinese investors have brought investment to The Gambia’s fisheries sector,
bringing stable sales, marketing channel and modern facilities such as cold
stores, ice plants, distribution of trucks and so on.
Minister
of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, James Gomez, said
the said incident happened at a time when the Ministry of Fisheries, Water
Resources was busy finalising the programme of activities to be implemented
under the EU/Gambia Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement.
“Fisheries
and Water Resources are very important sectors charged with the
responsibilities for the sustainable development of both fisheries and water
resources,” he said.
The
minister stated that in 2020, the Ministry of Water Resources has tasked the
Department of Fisheries to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
through collaboration and partnership with all relevant stakeholders amongst
other tasks.
