Africa-Press – Gambia. Can you give us an update on that project and its impact?
As I mentioned before, since 2017, we have committed over 500 million Euros (approx. 40.8 billion dalasi). These monies have been invested in four main areas: governance, inclusive green economic development, Renewable energy/Climate change/Infrastructures and human development.
The Gambia is a country that has 75 percent of its population under 35 years old. It has an incredible human development possibility and this is something that needs to be taken into consideration.
We are now implementing what we call the multi-annual indicative programme.
This is a document that goes from 2021-2027.
We have already committed €108 million Euros (approx. 8.8 billion Dalasi) and we will ensure an additional €74 million Euros (approx. 6 billion Dalasi) in the next three years.
The main objectives here are to tackle the big challenges because like I said The Gambia is a country that needs job opportunities for its young people. I was surprised to learn that the country imports 90 percent of the things that it consumes including food and that only a third of the country has access to electricity.
I think if you put all this together it gives you a very clear indication of the main issues we need to work on. We have been working on solar to ease access to energy.
We have co-financed the creation and installation of solar plant of 23 megawatts in Jambur.
This is something that would enhance the capability of The Gambia to a more reliable source of solar energy. We are also working on guaranteeing access to solar to over 800 schools and 100 health posts across the country which will facilitate education and healthcare delivery.
When it comes to economic opportunities, when you have access to energy – the economy and businesses will prosper.
We will continue to view climate change as a transversal and crosscutting issue through our entire cooperation and we take into account environment adaptation and mitigation in everything that we do.
We are going to have a project starting very soon of 20 million Euros (approx. 1.6 billion Dalasi)to support horticultural value change. That means production but also, working on the standards of the quality of the food because the moment you produce food, you can consume it internally but it is the quality that makes it meets international standards. The Gambia can export everything but arms duty-free to the European Union. We believe the country can take advantage of that market to boast its economy.
Therefore, this is a very important project that is going to be starting soon. We also have another very important project starting soon on education targeting upper secondary to increase the rate of people finishing secondary having a smooth transition to university. It will work closely with women to guarantee that they are able to finish their stories and transit. The project will also seek to increase the number of women teachers. It will basically support the future of youth because more education basically means more opportunities and more chances to jobs that generate profitable outcomes.
We have recently inaugurated, with the president, the EU Youth Empowerment Project (EU YEP) which is aimed at supporting the youth.
It is the second phase of the previous one which focused more on job creation. This one will focus more on Tourism and the Creative Industries but the main objective is again creating job opportunities and skills capabilities of the youth and women in the country.
It seeks to diversify the tourism offered by the country which at the moment is too restricted to one single type of tourism. The project will diversify tourism in The Gambia and make it longer because there are lots of things that you can do in the country all year round with a longer and a higher turnover of tourists.
This is a project that we are implementing through the International Trade Centre of the United Nations. We have very high expectations that it will diversify the whole creative industries to have young people working in creative industries linked to tourism.
What we want to do is to connect the dots. Create links between our different projects. For example, put in contact the food producers or creators of art supported with our projects with the tourism industry to increase the use of locally produced goods. Therefore, what is very important is to have a global vision connecting the dots of the different projects that we do and always working on the sustainability of these initiatives.
Can you give us a clear picture of the controversial fisheries agreement between The Gambia and the European Union?
Fishery is an important sector of the Gambian economy and the European Union has developed a robust system of partnership with the government.
What does it mean? There are basically two things; the European Union attaches financial support to the country with 550,000 Euros per year (approx. 44.8 million Dalasi) which is devoted on the one hand to get access to the Gambian Waters for European Union Members States boats and on the other hand to provide sectoral support to the fisheries ministry. I think with the agreement, we get a more organised use of the sea, which means a more rationalised way of using it to ensure that it is more profitable and above all more sustainable.
The agreement grants access to three EU Member States but I have to say that lately the use of the Gambian waters has been very low.
In the last six years, we have had a ratio of 1.6 percent of use for the tuna and 35 percent on the hake but the hake has not been fished in the last two years (0% in 2023 and only 3.6% in 2024). This is to respect the possibility of regenerating the stocks.
On the budget support side, what we do is to finance activities that the government implements through the fisheries sector. It goes into scientific studies, what is happening in the coast, direct support for the fishery sector, or fisherman and it is the government of the Gambia that decides how to use this budget.
We are now launching a reflection of how the agreement needs to evolve. For instance, the agreement with The Gambia is from 2020. A lot of things have happened since 2020, even though it’s not that far away. Therefore, we are rethinking how the new agreement needs to look like, what it needs to include and of course, thinking as well about agreements with the countries where the rate of utilisation is very low, which is the case of the Gambia.
I have the impression that there are misperceptions on the fishery agreement. It is important to underline that the European Union has a very clear intention to support fish stock and maritime biodiversity.
On top of that, we have regional projects that allow us as well to work into the maritime life to support the governance of the oceans and the scientific investigations that need to be done in order to preserve the lives in the oceans and The Gambia is eligible and benefits from these regional projects.
Another important part of our relations with the country in fisheries is to control the IUU, the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. And I think this is a very important part needed to enhance our cooperation with The Gambia.
But those are international commitments that countries including The Gambia and the European Union Member States adopted and signed.
To implement it, we need to prevent illegal fishing in The Gambia and European Union Waters.
We are working very closely with The Gambia’s ministry of fisheries in this regard.
Migration: Can you kindly take us through the migrants return deal signed between The Gambia and the EU?
Member States of the European Union and The Gambia have both signed international commitments that oblige them to accept irregular migrants living outside and we commend The Gambia government’s commitment to it.
This is international standard regulations that everybody has signed and we need to obey it.
What does it mean, it means that anybody who has no right to stay in a country needs to be returned. No right means, I arrived legally, but my legal Visa has expired and therefore I stayed illegally. I have arrived illegally or I have committed a crime and I have problems with justice. What the European Union does is to support these return policies.
We do it in different ways. We have a programme that supports voluntary returns – people who are transiting to get to Europe and suddenly they decided to go back and people who arrived in Europe and they want to go back and people that for whatever reasons don’t want to voluntarily but need to come back because they have either exceeded their legal visa or because they have entered Europe illegally.
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and the EU have direct programms with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and now the NGO CARITAS to support these returnees.
When they arrive they receive a sum of money that allows them to go from the point of arrival to their places. It is a basic assistance for getting them from the airport to wherever they need to be.
We also support their reintegration by establishing with them-they get us a plan and we allocate them money to implement this plan. Most of these plans are access to skills development, housing or even starting up small businesses in order to support their dream of reintegration into the community.
I have read in the newspaper headlines about massive deportations. I think that we have to be very clear.
We are not massively deporting, people who are coming back are people that by international law need to be back and to give you the figure of 2024, only 372people were returned which represents one per day in one year time.
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