Posted by Hon. Hamat N.K Bah, the Minister of Tourism and Culture today received the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commissioner for Education Science and Culture and delegation at his office in Banjul.
The mission is in the country for a six-day working visit to discussed with the Minister pertinent issues relating to The Gambia’s cultural cooperation with ECOWAS, The Gambia’s ratification of the UNESCO Conventions, the 1970 Convention on the Illicit Import and Export of Heritage Goods among others.
Minister Bah expressed delight for receiving the delegation and assured them that The Gambia will approve the new Cultural Policy Guideline for Africa and the Underwater Convention among other Conventions that needs to be ratified. On the issue of advocacy, he said that the NCAC will stand firm to support ECOWAS, while urging ECOWAS to interact more in order to exchange ideas and views.
Minister Bah informed the delegation of the upcoming Roots Festival which, he said is important to expand by involving the private sector and other groups in order to expose our culture.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Vabah Gayflor, ECOWAS country representative, thanked the Minister and his office for the warm welcome accorded to the delegation and assured the Minister of her office support at all times. She informed the delegation of the cordial relationship that exist between ECOWAS and the government of The Gambia saying the country supports ECOWAS matters and they continue to enjoy warm collaboration.
Dr. Mamadou Traore, Commissioner overseeing Education Science and Culture at ECOWAS, expressed gratitude to the Minister for the hospitality accorded to them since their arrival on Friday. He informed the Tourism and Culture Minister of their mission in The Gambia which is inline with the framework of their Regional Cultural Policy adopted by the heads of state at the ECOWAS level in 2005. He added that they are also here in Banjul to discuss with them about the Cultural Goods as you know in 2018, ECOWAS adopted the Action Plan of the Restore of our Good for three years (2019-2023) and they are working in this framework with ECOWAS countries.
Dr Traore disclosed that they have visited Benin, Liberia and Togo, and today they are here in Banjul for the same exercise to have a discussion with the Minister and the department in charge of cultural matters and to see together what are the progress done by the government here in the framework of Cultural Policy, what are the main challenges government is facing and how in the regional level ECOWAS can support and continue to work with the government of The Gambia to achieve these objective in this area.
Mrs Cordu L. Jabang-Senghore, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Culture expressed delight for receiving the delegates, while registering her Ministry’s appreciation for the support that ECOWAS/UNESCO had given to the National Center for Arts and Culture (NCAC) for the Covid-19 artists advocacy program.
She informed the ECOWAS Commissioner that the 1988 Cultural Policy was reviewed and updated in 2018. The implementation of the strategies of The NCAC Cultural Policy 2018-2028 are ongoing.She added that the ratification of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance as well as the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage has been sent to Cabinet for endorsement following which it will be sent for ratification by the National Assembly.
PS Jabang-Senghore also spoke at length on the Convention on the Illegal Transfer of Heritage Goods which, she was certain that most countries are looking forward to the coming into effect of the convention. However, she was quick to mention the importance of being cautious on the returns of these very fragile and important artefacts that hold so much importance in terms of history. “You would agree with me that these artefacts are well conserved in the countries that they are currently in especially in Europe,” she said. According to her, millions are spent in conserving the artefacts, protecting and preserving them both security wise and scientific knowhow. So how ready are we as a continent to receive these artifacts? She said these artefacts have for so long been protected by these developed countries that have actually the financial muscles to ensure that the artefacts are preserved and are kept in a conducive environment for posterity.
The Tourism and Culture PS urged ECOWAS to provide resources to build the capacities and upgrade museums to ensure that these artifacts are received and conserved as they were in their originating environment.
For his part, Hassoum Ceesay, the director general of NCAC commended ECOWAS for being very supportive to this Ministry and the NCAC citing ECOWAS’ intervention in their Copyright office which, he said is now a fully fledge Copyright office as well as their support during the Covid-19. He added that they have always been engaged by ECOWAS in all their cultural activities, thus there has been a very long and fruitful cooperation between ECOWAS Commission for Education Science and Culture and NCAC.