The National Assembly’s Chambers
By Ramatoulie Jawo
The National Assembly, On Thursday, adopted the report from the National Assembly Select Committee on Trade and Regional Integration regarding their trade facilitation visit to the Senegalese parliament.
Presenting the report, Hon. Kebba Jallow, the chairperson of the committee and National Assembly member for Jarra Central, explained that the committee met with the Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, African Integration, and Senegalese Abroad committee of the Senegalese parliament, as well as the Director General of Customs in Senegal.
“During the 5th Legislature, the Trade Committee embarked on a Country-wide tour to both official and unofficial border posts to assess and generate first-hand information on the implementation of ECOWAS Protocols and Conventions for goods in transit across the borders of the Gambia,” he stated
He added that officials from the Gambia Revenue Authority informed the committee that their Senegalese counterparts do not honour or implement the ECOWAS Inter-State Road Transit Convention.
“In furtherance of its activities the Committee on Trade of this 6th Legislature engaged the GRA to enquire about the state of implementation of the ISRT by their Senegalese counterpart the Committee was informed that the situation remains the same as their counterparts are not implementing the Convention,” he highlighted.
Hon. Jallow noted that transit goods from the Gambia are being charged double escort fees, making transit trade unattractive and affecting Customs revenue. Gambian traders and those involved in transit trade across the borders expressed similar concerns.
“It is against this background that the Committee embarked on a trade facilitation tour to Senegal to meet its counterpart Committee in the Senegalese Parliament and the Direction Generales des Douanes of Senegal to facilitate easy and speedy movement of goods and transit goods along the transit corridor used by honouring the ISRT Convention and other trade agreements,”he said.He stated that to promote a stronger fraternal relationship between the two parliaments, it was agreed to establish an inter-parliamentary committee. This committee will engage with relevant stakeholders on transit trade between the two countries, aiming to address shared concerns collaboratively.
“The inter parliamentary committee will have an ad hoc committee comprising the trade committee of both parliaments and the relevant stakeholders including health, Religion, Environment, Social and culture etc,” he said.
The committee also recommended that both countries establish juxtaposed customs officers on both sides to facilitate coordinated management of control operations.