By Buba Gagigo
Yankuba Dibba, Chief Executive Officer of the OIC Gambia Secretariat, has given Gambians assurance that the country will host the OIC summit in December 2023.
“Today I am even more confident to reassure you that we will still host the OIC come December 2023,” the CEO said while speaking on Kerr Fatou last Thursday.
Asked why he thinks The Gambia will host the OIC, he said; “We had a mission from the General Secretariat in Jeddah. That is part of the processes that countries hosting undergo. We normally go through what is called an assessment to gauge your preparedness. We had one last July, and they left and at the end of the visit we were able to conclude an MOU which clearly stated the dates for all the meetings and we expect them to come back in mid-October for the second and last round of assessment. At the end of their visit in July both parties agreed that we are in a good state to host the summit this year”.
The Chief Executive Officer of the OIC Gambia Secretariat said that even if the OIC road projects are not completed, the Gambia will still be able to host the summit in December 2023.
“I always like to say Gambia could have hosted the OIC much earlier if we just went by whatever we had. however, we should see the OIC as a National project that goes beyond just the hosting aspect of the summit. The OIC should be seen as a National project which is designed to usher in a platform on which the Gambia could continue the development process into the 21st century. The infrastructure that we identified and that we had funding for conceived within a longer perspective is to give Gambia the needed infrastructure so that it could become a bigger player on the international scene. The summit is just the start of Gambia’s responsibility within the OIC because once the summit is held we continue to chair the OIC for the following three years,” Mr. Dibba stated.
Asked Whether even without the completion of the projects the Gambia would be able to host the OIC summit, he replied emphatically; ‘Yes absolutely’.