By Fatou B. Cham
The Government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) on Thursday, 2nd February 2023 held a consultative committee meeting with the Government of Japan on the Food Assistance Programme (KR) (Fiscal year 2020).
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Hassan Jallow on receiving the delegation from the Embassy of Japan in Senegal underscored the importance of the bilateral cooperation between the Government of The Gambia and the Republic of Japan.
PS Jallow mentioned that part of the meeting’s agenda was to look at the executive agency in charge of each procedure, distribution of products, effectiveness of the KR on food security counterpart fund, publicity, conditions for the implementation of the KR and other issues.
Aritomo Kawakita, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Senegal said he was tasked to access the management of the counterpart fund and see how to use it in a more efficient way for the benefit of The Gambian people.
He noted that food assistance is an important key area of their cooperation with The Gambia and that Japan is committed to supporting the Gambia Government in its efforts to attain food sufficiency requirement of its population.
According to Mr Kawakita, this cooperation does not only provide rice to The Gambian people, but also saves the country’s foreign currency stock and moreover generates financial resources kept in the KR counterpart fund.
The said counterpart funds are accomplished after several consultations between the Government of The Gambia and the Government of Japan project finding in several key sectors to enhance social and economic development.
He informed that Japan’s cooperation to The Gambia covers vital sectors such as food assistance, water supply especially in rural areas, support underprivileged farmers to access mechanisation services; such as cars and technical cooperation to enhance human resource capacity.
