Ms Min-Whee Kang, the Unicef representative to The Gambia has described The Gambia as a shining example with regards to its drive towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She made this remark when she paid a courtesy call on President Alhaji Dr Yayah Jammeh, at State House, last Wednesday.

In a marathon meeting with the president, the Unicef rep pointed out that The Gambia is "on track" to meet most of the MDGs by 2015.

"The first MDG is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and The Gambia, where the figure of underweight children has dropped to 17%, is well on track. Equally, The Gambia is doing well on the second MDG, the achievement of universal primary schooling," she said.

Ms Kang praised the efforts of the government of The Gambia in initiating the Education Sector Strategic Plan for the realisation of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. She lauded the tremendous progress made in the area of girls' education.

"This government's extra efforts in the education sector has enabled The Gambia to move closer to the third MDG, gender equality in access to education," she said.

Ms Kang further praised the government's efforts in pursuing equality, citing the 2006 Food Act, the Children's Act and the Women's Bill as examples of the progress. Ms Kang then underlined the importance of the iodisation of salt in line with the Food Act.

During the courtesy call, President Jammeh pointed out that most of the salt mined in The Gambia is naturally iodised and that it is the imported salt, eaten mainly in the cities that need iodising. "Up-country, in places like Basse, we don't need to iodise salt," said the president.