Adama Barrow, President of the Gambia
By Buba Gagigo
President Adama Barrow expressed confidence in The Gambia’s readiness to host the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit, emphasizing its potential to significantly enhance the country’s visibility on the world stage.
“This will put Gambia on the Map, Gambia will be visible as a small country. When I visited Qatar, they were supposed to host the world cup, and we were all supposed to host the OIC. We discuss among ourselves; we all complement each other. Being a Small country, organizing big programs. The World Cup in Qatar was very successful, and it put Qatar on the map. This program will also put Gambia on the Map, we will be very visible and will benefit Gambia and Gambians,” President Barrow stated.
Highlighting the paramount importance of security for the event, President Barrow assured stringent measures, marking it as the largest security deployment in the country’s history.
“Security is very important to us and is important to the ummah and the delegates that are coming here are very important personalities. Security is our number-one priority. If you ask me, our number one priority is security, and that’s why we are not taking it lightly. We are engaging all security institutions Within the region, especially intelligence.
“I can tell you that it will be the biggest security deployment in our history regarding the event that will be hosted in this country. Maybe for security reasons, but we are deploying nothing less than 3000, 4000 on the ground, or more. So we are putting in a lot of resources as far as security is concerned, and we are also working with other countries that are also supporting us. One of them is Morocco, and we have other countries partnering with us.” President Barrow affirmed.
The OIC Banjul Summit, marking the 15th Islamic Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, is slated to convene in The Gambia from May 4th to May 6th, 2024.