Barrow assures successful, secured OIC summit

“The country is very much ready to host the forthcoming event. We are doing everything possible to make sure that we host a very successful OIC summit. We are a small country, but we want to prove something to the entire world that small countries can host big events. Overall, we are ready to host the event which will be one of the most successful OIC summits,” he said during a press conference with journalists at State House, Banjul on Monday.

The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organisation with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. The 15th Islamic Summit of Heads of State and government of the OIC will be held in the country from the 4th to 5th of May 2024 with the theme: ‘Enhancing Unity and Solidarity through dialogue for sustainable development’. The country is expected to host over 3000 delegates across the world.

“Gambia will be on the headline for very good reasons for the successful hosting of the summit. Without the political will of the government, it would have been difficult for us to host the event. We have landmark projects ranging from the conference center to our highways and our VIP Lounge at the airport, electricity, water among other projects. This is the first time The Gambia is building such standard roads,” he said

“As the chair of the OIC, we will be able to engage the OIC member states on so many bilateral issues. We will be hosting meetings even after the OIC summit. So the country is going to benefit a lot. We should all come together and support each other to make sure that we successfully host the summit,” he emphasised

The country, Barrow said, will have an international standing after the successful hosting of the summit. “This will put the country on the world map. The country will be visible as a small country but with lots of rich culture and tradition. The event will benefit The Gambia and Gambians,” he assured.

Security

The importance of security, the Gambian leader added, cannot be over emphasised. “Security is very important to us. The delegates that are coming here are very important people. Therefore, security is our number one priority. That is why we are not taking the issue of security lightly.”

“We are engaging all security institutions within the region, especially the intelligence. In fact, the Committee of Intelligence and Security Service of Africa (CISSA) is part of it. Some of their people are already in the country and working with our security to make sure that we maintain peace and security in the country especially within the OIC period.”

“I can tell you that it will be the biggest security deployment in our history. For security reasons, we will be deploying more than 4000 security personnel on the ground or even more. We are putting a lot of resources as far as security is concerned and we are working with other bilateral countries who are also supporting us in terms of security.”

The summit, he went on, will attract a high level of dignitaries and representatives from the OIC member states. “All the OIC member states have confirmed that they will be attending the summit. We are expecting high profile presidents and delegations across the world. We will be having a lot of bilateral meetings that are all geared towards the betterment of the country. We will also try to sell the country so that investors can come and invest in The Gambia.”

“We have mobilised a lot of resources. In fact, with all the resources we have mobilised, there is 35% grant. We will continue to benefit from the OIC even after the summit for the next three years which is going to boost our infrastructural development.”

Barrow assured Gambians that all the OIC projects will be completed. “We have mobilised the resources 100% and we have signed contracts with contractors, thus the OIC projects will be completed. Again, very soon we will be signing the third phase of other road projects with contractors.”

Accommodations

The country, he claims, has the capacity to host the entire delegations that are coming into the country. “We wanted the Radisson Blu Hotel, which is a unique one, to be completed before the summit. But I can assure you that we can host any event in the country. We have more than 10, 000 beds capacity in the country, hence all our delegates will be hosted comfortably.”