The visit was meant to meet the ECOWAS President and discuss with him possibilities of deepening ties and areas to enhance cooperation in the best interest of The Gambia in particular, for ECOWAS and WATAF. “This could be described as unprecedented and good development for the Gambia having such personalities holding high position at the international level. “There is no doubt that Gambia stands at a better chance of tapping potential opportunities at the international level,” Mr Darboe stated.
The visit was undertaken after the conclusion of the CATA annual Technical conference of Commonwealth held in Abuja last week, attended by 47 member countries.
According to Mr Darboe the main purpose of the visit was to discuss possibilities of strengthening partnership between West Africa Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) and Ecowas. He also stated that issues discussed during the visit include possibilities of assisting in the capacity building of GRA staff and “continue helping in our reforms and digitalization process”.
Mr Darboe further stated that currently, ECOWAS has sent IT experts to work with GRA to develop a transit module/solution called Interconnected System for the Management of goods in TRANSIT (zigmat).
This is presently being implemented in Cote D’voire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Niger and Benin, while Senegal and Mali have successfully completed the testing interconnectivity system and are ready to go live, with Ghana, Nigeria and The Gambia having recently completed the required technical/functional training to enable them to deploy ZIGMAT.
Mr Darboe further informed the President of the ECOWAS Commission that ECOWAS has been supporting WATAF over the years and he was at the commission to seek enhanced partnership and support. Tax administration, he added, is important for development.
While welcoming the WATAF delegation Dr Omar Alieu Touray, who is president of the ECOWAS Commission, assured the chairman of WATAF of his support, saying that the mandate of WATAF falls in line with the overall objectives of the new ECOWAS Management with regard to integration.
