The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency has been
given additional task to provide services to the micro, small and medium-sized
enterprises to get access to finance, Kebba Touray, Minister of Trade,
Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, has said.
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| Trade Minister Kebba Touray |
The Agency, whose main tasks include promoting and
facilitating investment, business and export development in the country, is
also mandated to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with
business development services to sustain their growth and development.
This has followed the dissolution of the Indigenous Business
Advisory Services (IBAS), a government institution established to provide aid
and support, as well as serve as an impetus, to indigenous small and medium-sized
enterprises in the country.
This revelation was made on Tuesday during the question-and-answer
session of the second meeting of the National Assembly in the 2012 Legislative
Year.
The trade minister’s statement was prompted by a question
posed by the National Assembly Member for Janjanbureh, Foday Jibani Manka, who
asked the minister to “inform this Assembly the current service of this
institution (IBAS) and its effectiveness, to be able to strengthen and promote
a dynamic enterprise culture providing necessary ingredients which will
accelerate socio-economic growth for Gambians, particularly for unemployed
youths”.
