Gambia and Guinea Bissau information ministers have discussed plans to ensure effective communication between the two sister countries for national and regional development.
Dr Ismaila Ceesay, the Minister of Information, Media, and Broadcasting Services, has expressed determination to strengthen cross-border communication between both countries as he welcomed Guinea Bissau Communications Minister Florentino Fernando Dia to The Gambia.
Florentino Fernando Dia, the Social Communications Minister of Bissau, was in The Gambia to grace the country’s 60th Independence Anniversary celebrations on 18 February.
On Monday, the two ministers held a press conference at the Information Ministry’s conference hall in Kanifing, where they discussed issues of mutual interest and provided updates on the progress of their bilateral relations.
Both ministers discussed strengthening the long-standing ties between the two countries. Dr Ceesay highlighted the crucial role of the media in promoting peace, stability, and development in the region. He also underscored the importance of the relationship between the two nations.
Minister Ceesay emphasised the potential benefits of collaboration, particularly in content sharing, saying learning about each other’s culture, history, and administration would help deepen mutual understanding.
He stated: “The two peoples need to know each other more, they need to understand each other’s culture, each other’s history, but also each other’s administration as well.
“We are going to come up with an MOU. I think it has already been drafted, and we need to finalize it between the two state broadcasters, where we can exchange capacity, we can exchange technical expertise, but also exchange content. I think this will be the beginning of other strengthening ties between the two countries.”
The Gambia information minister said enhancing trade relations, as well as increasing security and defence cooperation, would be key outcomes of the collaboration.
“The visit is timely and very relevant because we believe that the relationship between the Ministry of Social Communications of Bissau and the Ministry of Information of the Gambia need to set the pace and define the relationship for the other sectors as well,” he said.
For his part, Bissau’s Communications Minister Fernando Dia said there is great potential for cooperation to foster trade, improve security and defence, and facilitate the exchange of content between the two countries.
His visit was a testament to the strong bilateral ties between the two nations, he added.
