Government and the private sector constitute a complete set of a perfect partnership. What is obtained from their relationship is dependent entirely on their level of collaboration. Government wields the constitutional power to dictate the direction of a country's development aspirations, while the private sector enjoys a parallel privilege in that it has the expertise and resources it takes to develop the country, thus it is said to be the engine of growth.

It takes a wise government to accept and nurture this fact. Confidence building is a precursor to getting the full participation of the two, and this can easily be achieved through socialization. There cannot be any better way of soliciting confidence building between the key players than fostering understanding and good relations among them.

The much anticipated Big Match that saw President Jammeh playing at the same level of his citizens was indeed a moral booster not only for our highly respectable private sector community, but also the general citizenry at large. Indeed that was not the first time the president had sought to be exemplary, but it is important that we mention it when ever it is due.

There are a lot of lessons to be deduced from that admirable show of friendliness between the two. As the president himself said, our highly cherished vision 2020 blue print reserves an admirable place for the private sector. They "cannot be the engine of growth if they do not have good working relations with government."   
             
Therefore, it is our fervent belief that if everybody follows the footsteps of this marriage of understanding, they would be giving the Gambia their maximum effort, which would go a long way in uplifting the country.