By Ya Awa Touray
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Dr. Mamadou Tangara, has embarked on an official visit to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, where he paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, 8th February 2023.
Honorable Minister Dr. Tangara took the opportunity to deliver a special message of goodwill from His Excellency Mr. Adama Barrow, President of the Republic of The Gambia.
He proposed strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the maintenance of international peace and security.
In this regard, Bangladesh agreed to The Gambia’s request to co-deploy troops of the two countries to a suitable United Nations Peacekeeping Mission as a new contingent. The two countries further agreed to working closely at the technical level to finalise the modalities for this arrangement and to coordinate their engagement with the Secretariat of the United Nations to facilitate this co-deployment.
Bangladesh is the UN’s top most troop contributing country to peacekeeping missions, with an admirable figure of 7,250 peacekeepers. The Gambia has been a longstanding contributor of troops and police to UN Peacekeeping. In view of the friendly relations between the two countries, this bilateral arrangement seeks to harness the comparative advantage of the two countries in peacekeeping and enhance their contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security. This partnership falls in line with the UN Secretary-General’s Action for Peacekeeping plus Initiative.
A Joint Political Declaration will be signed by the two Governments to mark this agreement.
The minister is accompanied by Hon. Sering Modou Njie, Minister of Defence; Major General Mamat O. Cham; and Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Colonel Alhajie Sanneh; Director/Peacekeeping, Lieutenant Colonel Bahoreh Jaiteh; Director/Legal, and Mrs. Isatou Badjie, First Secretary/UN.
The United Nations Department of Peace Operations also provided a team of 3 peacekeeping experts to support this visit.
