By Mariatou Ngum
A delegation from the Gulf State of Qatar under the Qatar Fund for Development (QFD) recently visited the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE).
The visit to the Ministry is a follow-up of field visit to ascertain the relevance of the aspects of the reports of the pre-Covid fact-finding mission by 13 men team in September 2019, which aimed at developing a strategic country profile for possible interventions by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) in the areas of education, health, social welfare, and economic development.
Mr. Lamin Dampha, the Permanent Secretary of MoTIE welcomed the delegates to the ministry and assured them his ministry’s desire to collaborate with them in national development agenda.
The delegates were taken through a PowerPoint presentation on the National Employment Policy and Action Plan 2022-2026 and the National Entrepreneurship Policy of The Gambia 2016-2026.
Presenting on the National Employment Policy and Action Plan 2022-2026, Mr. Basiru Secka, Principal Labour Economist, informed the delegates that the Policy captures the government’s vision for achieving employment goals as indicated in the NDP 2018-2022 strategic priority 8 “making the private sector the engine of growth, transformation and job creation”. Employment generation, he added, is multi-faceted, which requires the coordination and collaboration of multiple actors – both public and private.
In his presentation on the National Entrepreneurship Policy of The Gambia 2016-2026, Mr. Omar Badjie, Acting Director; Directorate of Industrial Development and Investment-MoTIE, stated that the Objective of the policy is to develop and implement entrepreneurship policy, taking into account the social and environmental challenges in The Gambia that address the legal, social and regulatory barriers to equal, effective economic participation and to focus on technology and innovation advances, finance and capacity-building, education and skill development, and the promotion of an entrepreneurial spirit on a national level.
The delegation QFFD comprise of the Development Finance Director and Adviser to the Director General of Qatar Fund for Development Walid Ismail, Project Development Researcher and the Desk Officer for the Gambia Ms. Dana Al-misnad and, Strategy Planner Ms. Aisha Al-Obaidan.
