Japan ambassador visits MIDAS in Tanji

Ambassador Osamu was accompanied by the director general of The Gambia Immigration Department (GID) and the Ad Interim Chief of Mission International Organization of Migration (IOM).

Speaking at the site, Ambassador Osamu Izawa, said he was very much impressed of what he had seen.

Ambassador Osamu Izawa disclosed that the Japanese government supported The Gambia in the safety of border control by providing support in two folds.

According to him, the first was US$700,000 while the second was US$2 million. He said that it was through this cooperation the MIDAS system was initiated in The Gambia to help border management system.

“This is a huge contribution from the Japanese government and these facilities and equipment are to enhance border control in the country,” he said adding that he was happy to see the outcome upon visiting different border posts.

Seedy M. Tourary, the director general, GID, applauded the Japanese government through Ambassador Osamu Izawa and the International Organization of Migration (IOM) for supporting the government of The Gambia through enhancing border control system.

“It is a profound gratitude and appreciation to the ambassador of Japan for visiting the Tanji Immigration Scientific Lab,” he said, adding that  the history between the Gambia Immigration Department and the Japanese government through their ambassador in Dakar dates back to 2019, as Ambassador Osamu’s predecessor made a visit to The Gambia. During the visit, he was handed a copy of our five year strategy plan as well as the comprehensive Border Assessment Report that was jointly conducted by International Organization of Migration (IOM) and Government of The Gambia through GID and other international partners.

According to DG Tourary, through this funding, “we were able to have the MIDAS system in our seven land border entry points with the base station at Tanji.

DG Tourary said during the previous years, the GID was able to intercept some fraudulent documents at the Banjul International Airport through manual means, adding those documents were normally sent to some of the western embassies.

With the coming of this system, he said, “we were able to capture real information, not only on travelers, but also to detect fraudulent documents and this is really helping us on control measures that we have at Banjul International Airport as well as our land frontiers.”

Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) is a high-quality, user friendly and fully customizable border management information system for states in need of a cost effective and comprehensive solution currently operational in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

MIDAS has been designed to be compliant with international standards with the capability to collect, process, store and analyse traveler information in real time and an entire border network.