The celebration also honoured the closed partnership that brings together The Gambia, the European Union and its 27 Members States.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Cortés revealed that a friendship that dates from long time, and has been reinforced in the last 8 years with the Gambian transition to democracy.
She assured that the friendship would continue to be reinforced with the sustained path to democracy, inclusive sustainable growth and human development.
Highlighting on The Gambia-EU partnership, Rita Laranjinha, managing director for Africa of the European External Action Service, revealed that the European Union remains engaged around the world and to address global challenges, remain to find joint solutions and to build robust and long-lasting partnerships.
She added that on the international stage, they need to cooperate and respect common agreed rules, adding that for this reason, it’s vital to uphold multilateralism and an international rule based order by abiding to the United Nations institutions and charters.
She said that both The Gambia and the European Union are aligned in defending and promoting these principles without which there can be no peace, security and global prosperity.
“While we were partners before, it was the democratic transition in 2017 that opened a new and promising chapter in the country’s path and in our cooperation,” she revealed.
She further revealed that the technical and financial assistance provided by the EU comes as grant funding provided by the citizens of all European Union Member States and their governments.
“We have to add the bilateral cooperation of the Member States. Some of the projects we implement here are actually implemented together in a “Team Europe” approach. In particular, we accompany the security sector with Germany or fight the smuggling of migrants together with Spain and Germany.”
Sering Modou Njie, the minister for Defence who spoke on behalf of the minister of Foreign Affairs, revealed that Europe Day stands for peace, unity and cooperation and resonates strongly with the Gambia as the nation continues to build a resilience and democratic society grounded in shared values and mutual respect.
He noted that Gambia’s partnership with European Union exemplifies a model of international cooperation that is matured, respectful and mutually beneficial.
He stated that the European Union is a global actor committed to promoting democratic governance, sustainable developments and human dignity, a commitment he said has been visibly and consistently demonstrated in The Gambia.
He said that historically, the EU has always been by The Gambia during the most challenging times in the nation’s history, adding that the EU delegation remained present and never closed its doors and never seizes its assistance.
