His Excellency President Adama Barrow today received the letters of credence of the new Ambassadors of the Russian Federation and Republic of Turkiye to The Gambia at the State House in Banjul.
In presenting his Letter of Credence to President Barrow, the Russian Ambassador His Excellency Mikhail Korneev thanked the Gambian leader for the hospitality and support since arrival in the country. He said the opening of a fully-fledged Russian Embassy in The Gambia manifests the maturity of Russian-Gambian relations. The Ambassador expressed his willingness to engage the Gambian authorities in increasing the allocation of educational scholarships to Gambian students beyond the current 15 slots.
President Barrow congratulated Ambassador Mikhail Korneev and extended his gratitude to the Russian President Vlamidir Putin for strengthening the ties between the two countries. As The Gambia is working to transform agriculture, President Barrow welcomes Russian development cooperation, saying “to eradicate poverty, we need to modernise agriculture and consider it as business. We need to build human capacity and get equipment that will positively transform farming across The Gambia.”
For his part, the new Turkish Ambassador Ozgur Gokmen, expressed gratitude for the warm welcome to the Smiling Coast of Africa as he presented his Letter of Credence. He considers his deployment to The Gambia as both a challenge and an opportunity to do more. The bilateral relations between Turkiye and The Gambia are excellent and all previous Ambassadors have left visible impacts in the areas of education, trade, security cooperation with training opportunities for Gambian security forces and cultural exchanges.
President Barrow congratulated Ambassador Gokmen and added that Turkey has been sending the best Ambassadors to diversify our mutually-beneficial relations. Gambians can now travel to Turkey for business with ease as Turkish investors are participating in The Gambian maritime and logistics sectors. Also, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first-ever historic state visit to The Gambia. This is part of my foreign policy legacy.” President Barrow explained while wishing President Erdogan good health and a long life.
The two Ambassadors were accompanied to the Office of The President by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Honourable Serign Modou Njie and senior officials of his ministry.
(Source: State House)