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BANJUL, October 21 2021: The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of The Gambia to the Republic of Swiss Confederation and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Offices at Geneva, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other International Organisations in Switzerland, His Excellency Muhammadou M.O Kah, on September 28, 2021 presented his Letters of Credence to the President of the Swiss Confederation Council, His Excellency Mr Guy Parmelin, at a special ceremony at Bern, Switzerland.
Following presentation of his Letters of Credence, Ambassador Prof. Muhammadou M.O. Kah conveyed fraternal best wishes from the President of the Republic of The Gambia, His Excellency President Adama Barrow, the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mamadou Tangara and the Government and the People of The Gambia, to the Leadership and People of Switzerland. He expressed appreciation for the warm reception accorded to him in Switzerland.
It is important to note, The Gambia enjoys excellent Bilateral relations with the Swiss Confederation, focusing mainly on cooperation specifically in the areas of migration and air transport. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is also engaged in The Gambia through its global cooperation programs in West Africa.
In March 2018, The Gambia opened its Permanent Mission in Geneva with dual accreditation to Bern and The United Nations office at Geneva. It did so with the support of Switzerland, which encourages the establishment of new embassies on its territory. At the end of 2019, 38 Swiss nationals were living in The Gambia and 586 Gambian nationals were living in Switzerland.
Muhammadou M.O. Kah conveyed the Government’s appreciation for the expired Swiss aid that impacted our peoples and our development agenda. He also conveyed appreciation of the ongoing new forms of support and collaboration and intimated interest to reengage to facilitate newer bilateral agreements responding to the Gambia’s National Development Plan and H.E President Adama Barrow’s development agenda and vision.
H.E Prof. Muhammadou M.O. Kah during his bilateral exchanges with Excellency President Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation, intimated that he noticed The Gambia is not an SDC priority country and although a number of SDC projects are currently under way which are benefiting the country’s population, the leadership of Excellency President Adama Barrow wishes to convey our interest to engage and have The Gambia amongst priority countries and to broaden and deepen our bilateral agreements and engagements.
“It is important to acknowledge with appreciation to the leadership of the Swiss Confederation, The Gambia is one of the beneficiary countries of the Global Program on Migration and Development, which promotes the contributions made by diaspora communities to sustainable development and the protection of migrant children through the West Africa Network for the Protection of Children. With SDC support, The Gambia adopted the Gambian Diaspora Strategy in 2018. Switzerland also supports, through its multilateral cooperation programs (Geneva Water Hub, Blue Peace Initiative), innovative regional initiatives in neighbouring countries focused on the joint management of river and groundwater reserves. Furthermore, The Gambia will be eligible for SDC flexible funding for the period 2021–24.”
For his part, President Guy Parmelin congratulated H.E Prof. Muhammadou M.O. Kah on his appointment as The Republic of The Gambia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Confederation. He assured him of his full support and that of the Swiss Confederation Council during his tenure. The Swiss Confederation Council President extended greetings to H.E President Adama Barrow and conveyed appreciation of the friendly relations between The Gambia and the Swiss Confederation and underlined the importance that the Swiss Confederation attaches to its bilateral relations with The Gambia.
He stated that “the increased interest and our commitment can be seen in the escalation of high-level engagements and visits to our two capitals and expansion of bilateral support. The recent visits of her Excellency, Vice President Dr Istatou Touray with a high-level delegation to Bern and the visit of the Swiss Confederation Council’s Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs- Excellency Ignazio Cassis, official visits and other high level leadership from Bern and the step up collaboration and support of DECAF on the Gambia’s Security Reforms and other escalated support on Immigration and signed agreements on Air Transport demonstrate strengthening of our Bilateral collaborations and partnerships,” President Guy Parmelin concluded.
He further encouraged Ambassador Kah and his delegation to step up The Gambia’s bilateral engagement and visibility at Bern and at different Cantons across Switzerland. The diversity of the Cantons offers different opportunities which The Gambia can pursue. These opportunities provide a path to engage and develop further collaboration and partnerships with the Cantons and the Private Sector through the Chambers of Commerce and the Swiss-Africa-Swiss Business organisations, other business actors and agents and CSO’s to explore opportunities for requirements and mutual interest and development strategies and initiatives articulated in The Gambia’s NDP.
While in Bern, Ambassador Kah also met with several senior Swiss government officials from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Federal Office of Public Health, the State Secretariat for Migration, and the Federal Office for Agriculture to discuss bilateral cooperation between The Gambia and Switzerland.
The Gambia and Switzerland have a long history of bilateral relations. Switzerland recognized The Gambia’s independence in 1965 and has had diplomatic relations with The Republic of The Gambia since 1966. Between 1988 and 1995, Switzerland was one of The Gambia’s main donor countries. A bilateral agreement relating to Swiss aid for The Gambia expired at the end of 1995 and was not renewed.