Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama has said that Nigeria is pushing towards increasing trade volumes with the Gambia and strengthening bilateral relations across all spheres.
Onyeama disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja as he received the Gambian delegation led by Dr Mamadou Tangara, Gambian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Gambian Defence Minister, Sheikh Omar Faye.
The Gambian delegation was on a Thank You visit to Nigeria for its role in strengthening its governance, institutions and to strengthen bilateral ties.
Onyeama said that Nigeria has made enormous contributions to peace and reforms in the Gambia and how much the volume of trade made and how that has translated into something meaningful.
“The Gambia is a small country and there are quite a small number of Nigerians in the Gambia and a lot of them are doing business there.
“Some are professionals working in the Gambia and the nature of relationship we have is such that Nigerians in the Gambia feel very much at home and very welcomed.
“There are some Nigerian businesses that are very present in the Gambia, banks and we used to have one of our carriers that fly to Gambia some years back.
“There is more we can do and that is what the strengthening of the relations is all about.
“We have a framework for cooperation, bilateral commission and also we will be pushing towards increasing the volume of trade between Nigeria and Gambia,” Onyeama said.
Onyeama said Nigeria is excited with the restoration of democracy in the Gambia and will continue to engage with the rest of the ECOWAS sub region to sustain this.
Tangara thanked Nigeria for the tremendous support it has given to the Gambia and the pivotal role played in the entire sub-region.
He also appreciated Nigeria’s support to its Armed forces and Judiciary, stating that without Nigeria’s support to the Gambian judiciary, it would have been completely crippled.