A
country that is endowed with mineral resources can attract business and
investment opportunities from overseas. Such a country can also be inclined
towards contracting overseas loans for socioeconomic development because the
absorptive capacity of the economy can handle the repayments of such loans.
Countries in this category would include Ghana, Congo, Nigeria, Botswana, South
Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Algeria, Sierra Leone, etc. among others.
A
small country like The Gambia with no known mineral base is not a bankable
country. It is therefore limited in terms of access to international credit and
business opportunities. The possibilities exist in the productive sectors of
the economy, namely: Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism, etc. to excite economic
development and growth. This would depend on the orientation of the economy
towards production and export basis. The late President Jawara at Independence
in 1965 had warned Gambians that “Independence is not a magical formula that
will transform your groundnuts into diamonds. It means we are on our own and by
our own efforts we must earn our keep.”
Here
we are in the Third Republic and The Gambia is in dire need of economic
assistance and social uplift. It is about time that we look at our domestic
economic management and our foreign policy with a view to reflect on strategies
and national capacity in nation building. The country is missing out a lot on
achieving grand dividends from domestic resources and from the international
community. We have heard what other country received from the visit of the
Turkish President. Public information is required on what The Gambia expects
from the cooperation agreement concluded with Turkey. It is to be noted that
bilateral cooperation goes with benefits which should have been made known to
the public in the said visit.
There
is no public information to my knowledge as to what The Gambia achieved in the
Russia/Africa summit and Japan/Africa summit. Unfortunately, The Gambia was
absent in the recently concluded
British/Africa Investment Summit for unexplained reasons. It is interesting to
observe that even francophone countries were invited to attend the British
summit. It is to be stated that The Gambia is not utilizing her experts’ bank
to engage in national preparedness and in strategic economic diplomacy to
achieve the desired results in resource mobilization for nation building. This
is a poor reflection on the system of government. It could be concluded that
The Gambia lacks foresight in economic diplomacy.
This
is an era of economic diplomacy. When our relations with the outside world are
fundamentally friendly, it is the time to move fast, use our skills, knowledge,
capacity and the flexing of our diplomatic muscles to win big gains in the
international arena for The Gambia. Of course, this will require the
elimination of selfishness, small-mindedness and bureaucratic procrastinations
in the system. The resolution to many of the challenges faced by the country is
the opening of the doors to those who can make a difference in achieving
concrete results for the country. Diplomacy today operates in a world in which
countries are interested mainly in the pursuit of economic benefits. Economic
diplomacy takes priority over political diplomacy. Hence the need to intensify
efforts to achieve economic returns for national development, The Gambia must
get this right.
By:
D.M. Badjie
