OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organisation with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. The OIC organises the Islamic summit, which is the largest meeting, attended by the Rulers and the Heads of State and Government of its member states.
The Islamic Summit takes policy decisions and provides guidance on all issues pertaining to the realisation of its objectives as provided for by the OIC Charter and considers other issues of concern to the Member States and the Ummah. This meeting is held once every three years.
The 15th Heads of State and Government Summit will be held in The Gambia in 2022. The government of The Gambia set up the OIC-Gambia Secretariat to lead government’s efforts to host the summit at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre in Bijilo.
The Turkey government has been supporting the Gambia government with security arrangements ahead of the summit. It has trained about 1200 Gambian security personnel.
In this regard, its technical team visited the OIC-Gambia Secretariat and head of security institutions to assess the capacity of the security. It would report and accelerate support to the Gambia.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the courtesy call, Essa Bocar Sey, deputy chief executive officer (CEO) for OIC-Gambia commended the Turkish delegation for visiting his office and all security institutions ahead of the summit.
“Turkey is fully involved in the security aspect; recently we were in Turkey for one month training on security and intelligence with OIC subcommittee.”
“And recently a contingent of the Gambia Armed Forces was trained in Turkey. So far Turkey has now trained 1200 security personnel and is an ongoing process. They are going to train more,” he said.
Mr. Sey, a security and diplomacy specialist said The Gambia is very much safe and comfortable in terms of security. “The security of the country is well prepared when it comes to visible and invisible structures of the security,” he added.
The security coordinator for OIC-Gambia further said the Gambia’s security is also intact when it comes to intelligence and practical issues.
Speaking further, he said the OIC- Gambia is working with security heads and partners to ensure proper security in all sensitive areas and entry points in the country such as the airport, seaport and the venue (International Conference Centre in Bijilo).
The press did not speak to the Turkish delegation during the interview but Mr. Sey expressed optimism and comfort working with the Turkish on security matters, while saying that Turkey has the most intelligent security after USA and Malaysia.
Nfally Fadera, brand and communication expert for OIC-Gambia, said: “As long as preparation is concern, we are ready to host the summit even in the next minute.”
However, he said most of the OIC projects are on implementation stage but hopefully, the secretariat would cover much of its projects and host the event successfully.
