Eu And Itc Collaborate To Elevate Gambia’s Tourism And Creative Industries For Sustainable Growth

Friday, July 18, 2025

In a important move to upgrade Gambia’s tourism and imaginative industries, nan European Union (EU) and nan International Trade Centre (ITC) person launched a two-day strategical speech that will activity to summation nan competitiveness, openness, and ecological sustainability of its main contributors to GDP. The speech successful Kololi represents portion of nan actualization of nan 2025 roadmap for tourism and imaginative assemblage improvement successful The Gambia. They were portion of nan wider EU-funded Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), which intends to create backstage assemblage opportunities, peculiarly for mini and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

Strategic Dialogue to Propel Industry Growth

The EU and ITC’s collaboration reflects a increasing nickname of nan request for strategical partnerships and multi-stakeholder coordination successful nan improvement of emerging markets. The arena brought together a scope of cardinal stakeholders, including authorities officials, manufacture experts, and representatives from The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors, each of whom shared insights and aligned efforts for nan implementation of nan YEP.

The overarching extremity of nan speech is to guarantee that The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative industries are positioned to thrive successful an progressively competitory world market. By focusing connected nan unsocial strengths of nan country’s taste practice and tourism potential, nan strategical discussions aimed to place ways to make these sectors much sustainable, inclusive, and adaptable to world trends.

Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and Its Significance

A cornerstone of nan business is nan Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), a awesome inaugural funded by nan European Union and designed to revitalize The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors. The project, which spans 56 months, is being coordinated successful collaboration pinch The Gambia’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE) and nan Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MoTC).

The YEP is simply a cardinal constituent of nan EU’s broader “Aid for Trade” initiative, which intends to heighten nan export capacity of processing and transitional economies by focusing connected mini and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By fostering inclusivity and sustainability, YEP hopes to empower youth, create jobs, and make income, each while strengthening nan nation’s position arsenic a competitory destination for world tourism.

The ITC, which plays an instrumental domiciled successful nan project, is known for its attraction connected improving nan export capacities of SMEs successful processing countries, peculiarly successful Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and sub-Saharan Africa. The extremity is to thief businesses successful these regions summation their competitiveness connected nan world shape by addressing barriers to waste and acquisition and enhancing their capacity for innovation.

Focus connected Collaboration and Multi-Stakeholder Engagement

The strategical speech emphasized nan value of building beardown collaborations betwixt nationalist and backstage assemblage entities. By fostering partnerships crossed various stakeholders, nan task seeks to reside nan multifaceted challenges faced by The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors. This attack is aimed astatine ensuring nan country’s tourism manufacture tin thrive while remaining resilient successful nan look of some section and world challenges.

A cardinal facet of nan discussions was nan reactivation of nan MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) Core Team nether nan YEP initiative. This team, established pinch support from nan ITC, MoTIE, and MoTC, is considered a pivotal level for fostering cross-sector collaboration and driving nan maturation of mini businesses successful The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors. Through this initiative, nan task intends to heighten innovation, summation knowledge-sharing, and guarantee that support is efficaciously channeled to nan sectors astir successful need.

The Role of nan Andandorr Framework

To guideline nan implementation of nan project, nan Andandorr Framework was introduced during nan dialogue. This model is designed to streamline task execution, focusing connected beneficiary selection, partner engagement, and capacity-building efforts for organization stakeholders. By providing a system attack to nan improvement process, nan model seeks to guarantee that nan benefits of nan Youth Empowerment Project are felt crossed nan country, peculiarly successful underserved communities.

Through nan Andandorr Framework, nan task intends to not only empower younker and foster entrepreneurship but besides to fortify The Gambia’s organization capacity for supporting sustainable tourism and imaginative industries. This, successful turn, is expected to thief nan country’s tourism assemblage go a cornerstone of its broader economical maturation strategy.

Progress Made So Far

Since nan charismatic motorboat of nan YEP successful April 2025 by The Gambia’s President Adama Barrow, important strides person been made successful mounting up nan method units that will oversee nan project. The creation of nan MSME Entrepreneurship Core Team, which was approved during nan project’s steering committee session, marks a awesome milestone. The Core Team is tasked pinch driving nan project’s implementation, ensuring that nan goals of promoting inclusivity, sustainability, and competitiveness are met passim nan long of nan initiative.

In summation to nan constitution of nan Core Team, nan project’s implementation roadmap is already showing promising results. Early efforts person focused connected aligning authorities argumentation pinch sector-specific needs, enhancing nan skills of section entrepreneurs, and fostering stronger connections betwixt world partners and The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative industries.

Long-Term Impact and Future Prospects

The strategical dialogue’s outcomes are expected to person a far-reaching effect connected The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors. The collaboration betwixt nan EU, ITC, and section stakeholders ensures that nan country’s industries are not only much competitory successful nan short word but are besides amended equipped to accommodate to nan challenges and opportunities of nan future.

By enhancing collaboration, building partnerships, and promoting sustainable practices, nan EU and ITC’s efforts will thief toggle shape The Gambia into a hub for imaginative industries and tourism successful West Africa. With nan backing of nan YEP, The Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors are well-positioned to pull investment, create jobs, and lend to nan country’s semipermanent economical growth.

Conclusion

The opening of nan EU ITC strategical speech represents a defining infinitesimal successful nan improvement of Gambia’s tourism and imaginative sectors. The state is good underway pinch targeted programs specified arsenic nan Youth Empowerment Project and nan Andandorr Framework to create a much inclusive, competitive, and sustainable early for tourism and nan imaginative industries. As these initiatives continue, The Gambia stands to go a exemplary for different countries looking to create their ain manufacture while supporting economical empowerment and younker participation.

References: EU, International Trade Centre, Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE), Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MoTC)