THE GAMBIA: BUDGET 2003

BUDGET SPEECH 2003

PROGRAMME BASED BUDGETING FOR EFFICIENT RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND USE WITH A POVERTY REDUCTION DIMENSION

Mr Speaker Sir,

27. We cannot talk about bilateral relations without mentioning the valuable assistance and the supportive roles played by countries like The United Kingdom, Egypt, the Republic of Germany, Japan, the United States and France in the Gambia's development efforts.

28. In 2002, Government, through the Department of State for Trade, Industry and Employment negotiated and concluded reciprocal bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements as well as Trade Cooperation Agreements with a number of countries. These include, The State of Qatar, The Islamic Republic of Iran, The United Kingdom and the Republic of Guinea. Not only are these agreements reassuring us of increased transfer of resources through trade and investment involving our respective citizens, they are also an indication of foreign governments' perception about the stability of the Gambian economy that other countries proudly seek to associate with.

29. We continue to pay special attention to our relations with the Republic of Senegal and to the importance of good neighbourliness. An important Agreement has already been signed with our Senegalese counterparts in the framework of the recent Joint Ministerial Commission held in Dakar, Senegal. It is hoped that our frequent border problems will be solved for the benefit of the two nations.

30. Another close friend of The Gambia is the Republic of China on Taiwan, which continues to support our development efforts and has proven to be a genuine and reliable ally in all our endeavours. In our own small way we have also tried to give Taiwan support in the international forum, in particular in the context of the United Nations, in its struggle to establish its right to be recognised as a political, economic and social entity. It is the only country in the world today that is not represented in the United Nations, contrary to the principle of universality.

31. We continue to enjoy excellent relations with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and each year we consolidate cooperation in almost all areas relevant to the development process. Of particular importance is the high quality of technical experts sent by Nigeria in the field of health, legal profession, the national youth service scheme and the University of The Gambia.

32. We also continue to have excellent relations with Guinea Bissau, which were recently consolidated with the visit to Banjul of President Kumba Yalla in November this year. The Gambia is currently co-ordinator of the Group of Friends of Guinea Bissau in the United Nations. Within this forum we call ceaselessly on the international community to provide much needed assistance to this sister country, which is striving to consolidate its democratisation process and enhance its national economic performance. We are pleased to report that important positive results are already forthcoming.

Mr Speaker Sir,

33. His Excellency the President's commitment to ECOWAS is manifest in his active participation in all ECOWAS matters as evidenced by his attendance of the Second Monetary Zone Summit held recently in Conakry at a very short notice. His address expressed the need to respect ECOWAS protocols and principles as manifested in his infinite goodwill for and determination to promote sub-regional cooperation and integration, which cannot be achieved without the free movement of goods, persons and services.

34. Economic integration as demonstrated by the European Union has been re-echoed in this part of the World as a means of averting marginalisation of the less developed and fragile economies. Consequently ECOWAS is doing everything possible for the realization of this goal. In this vein, the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) was nurtured as a multi-speed approach to monetary integration with a view to, eventually bring on board, the CFA franc Zone and establish a common currency for all ECOWAS members.

35. During the 12th meeting of WAMZ in October this year, The Gambia, having met three out of the four criteria, was cited as the best performer. As a result of the difficulties encountered by other member countries especially on macroeconomic convergence, the takeoff date has been extended to June 2005 from January 2003. It is also gratifying to note that the Gambia is the only WAMZ member country to satisfy the pre-condition of adopting the IMF General Data Dissemination Systems (GDDS) for fiscal transparency and timely reporting.

36. Trade liberalization has also been high on the agenda of ECOWAS, although the performance on this front has been mixed so far. One of its main obstacles has been border restriction that contradicts the very spirit of a Common External Tariff intended for adoption by the regional grouping. However, it is almost certain that monetary integration cannot do it alone without harmonizing other economic policies particularly the trade policies of the member countries.

37. The current political situation in the sub-region however is of great cause for concern. We deplore in particular the interminable conflict in Liberia and the latest developments in Cote d'Ivoire, which call for the immediate implementation of mechanisms for conflict resolution to deal with such insurgencies, which are so detrimental to our fledgling and fragile development efforts, and to safeguard against the emergence of such conflicts in the future. In this regard The Gambia renews its commitment to and respect for ECOWAS ideals and principles and is ready to make its contribution to the ECOWAS mediation efforts in the Cote d'Ivoire.

38. In the domain of African unity, The Gambia continues to play its role in the struggle to consolidate unity among African countries, in the efforts at nation building and the goal of providing better living conditions for Africans generally. It participated actively in the Summit of the African Union held earlier this year in South Africa. It now has a full diplomatic mission in Addis Ababa to facilitate our collaboration with other African countries in the effort to achieve the objectives of the African Union.

39. African governments through the aegis of the African Union have spearheaded a new initiative. The first initiative of its kind from African Intellectuals, The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has five core principles - good governance; entrenchment of democracy, peace and security; sound economic policy-making and execution; productive strategic partnerships; and domestic ownership and leadership - all seen as preconditions for Africa's rebirth. NEPAD, which is tasked, to reduce poverty and increase growth draws from two proposals - the Millennium Partnership for the Africa Recovery Programme (MAP), and the Compact for African Development.

40. The most innovative dimension of NEPAD is the creation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). In place of the intrusive role that western nations played in promoting economic and political reforms, African governments have now established a self - monitoring mechanism to produce more acceptable ways of ensuring compliance with nationally, regionally, and internationally accepted norms of political, economic and corporate governance. Thus NEPAD recognises the importance of the PRSP as the country level framework for translating vision into action through implementation strategies such as better public expenditure management by strategic planning and monitoring mechanisms.

Mr Speaker Sir,

41. Both development partners and the developing countries have to be committed in fulfilling their responsibilities in order for Africa and The Gambia in particular to register significant development. In September this year, the European Union (EU) and Africa-Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACPs) began negotiations on a new trade partnership that will be evenly balanced on the interest of both parties. The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) evolving from the negotiations are focused on fighting poverty and integrating developing countries into the world economy. The new partnership builds on the lessons learnt from past experiences and draws closely on the current international debate on trade and development. We look forward to this new partnership with high hopes that the EPAs will address the issue of trade barriers.

42. The Gambia's relation with the Bretton Woods Institutions remains strong and cordial as our firm resolve to implement the necessary reforms becomes more apparent and recognised. A new country assistance strategy (CAS) is currently being finalised with the World Bank, with a strong bias towards consolidating our significant achievements in our national strategy to increase access to education. The Gambia is one of the 18 countries in the World to benefit from the World Bank's Education For All strategy. It is in this context that the Bank's Action Plan to accelerate progress towards Education for All (EFA) will assist The Gambia in meeting financing gaps in implementing our national EFA strategy. We are thus expecting the Vice President of the World Bank on an official visit this month regarding this issue among others. On a separate note, the review of our new PRGF programme with the IMF will be concluded early next year, once a complete picture of our performance in 2002 is finalised. It is also worth noting that the U.N. system, African Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Arab Bank for Economic Development (BADEA), Kuwaiti Fund and The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC Fund ) continue to support our development efforts.
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