The vice president and minister of Women’s Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy on Thursday launched on behalf of the Gambian leader an investment seeking opportunities and destination marketing magazine dubbed ‘FIRST’ Magazine at the Cabinet room at State House in Banjul.

The magazine, which was published to mark the fourth inauguration of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, is published quarterly and distributed to over 150, 000 high network subscribers. It is also presented to first class passengers of many airlines, including British Airways, America, Air Canada, South African Airways, Qatar and Air China among others.

The Ministry of Tourism and Culture spearheaded the effort supported by other key partners. The official report on The Gambia in the magazine is captioned ‘A country with Limitless Appeal, Stability, Friendship and Potential’. The magazine is a UK-based magazine that had publishes reports on Kuwait, Namibia, Russia, Hong Kong and Britain among others.

In her launching remarks, VP Njie-Saidy said the magazine has added Gambia’s mark on the global map. “I think that is what we need,” she said, noting that the publication will reach several places, which is a very good mechanism to attract investors to The Gambia. She expressed hope that this will be the beginning of a wider cooperation between the magazine and The Gambia through the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

“I want to take this opportunity on behalf of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh to thank all of you for the efforts, both the private sector, diplomatic community - British High Commission and the magazine management for the efforts you have made in realising the magazine for The Gambia,” she added.

The vice president also noted that the initiative is a way to market The Gambia, saying, “we must invest in marketing and I believe this is one way of that, providing quality documentation for The Gambia”.She added that a documentation of such by the FIRST Magazine can contribute significantly in discovering The Gambia and what it has to offer.

“The tourists that come to The Gambia mainly from Britain do tell Gambian stories in UK. I have been there and I have had very good narrations of such,” she said, while pointing out that The Gambia has a lot of potential in tourism and also in expanding the productive sectors and other services sectors. “We are happy that FIRST Magazine has come to partner with the government in telling The Gambian story and showing the potentials we have. We want to thank you for this,” she concluded. 

Speaking earlier, the minister of Tourism and Culture,Fatou Mass Jobe-Njie, explained that the first publication in the magazine covers the priority investment areas in The Gambia, the government's medium and long term plans and re-affirms Gambia’s openness and safety for potential investors.

“It allows the president to speak unedited to a powerful and international high-level audience, interviews with the ministers of Finance and Economic Affairs, Trade, Employment and Regional Integration, Petroleum and Communication and also outlined the current plans being implemented in these areas and the future plans and how each sector can provide specific opportunities for genuine foreign investors,” she told the gathering.

Physical access to The Gambia, she went on, was also highlighted in the report and the third party endorsement was provided by positive and realistic appraisals of The Gambia by Lord Hurd, the former Foreign Secretary of UK and the British high commissioner to The Gambia.

She noted that the tourism potential of The Gambia was also highlighted in the report by managers of the country's most luxurious resorts as well as an up-market boutique property - both beach properties and unique eco-property up river from the coast, Ngala Lodge and Makasutu.

The Tourism minister revealed that copies of the magazine have already been distributed in Washington and Taipei, while expressing hope that the same trend will continue in other countries across the globe. “We want to seize this opportunity to thank our partners in development but to also thank President Jammeh for his continuous support and guidance to the development of The Gambia. I pray for Allah to continue to shower his protection and guidance on him and the Gambian people at large,” she concluded.

On his part, Declan Hartnett, regional publisher of the ‘FIRST’ Magazine said: “First of all, we are very happy to have produced this publication. FIRST is an official publisher for many governments around the world and we have worked for Commonwealth for many years and we are very conscious in our work because there are many Commonwealth countries who did not achieve the exposure in the international media.

It is our pleasure to be able to present the publication on The Gambia and hopeful to make positive aspect of Gambian known to a wider international audience. The publication will be reprinted and be distributed to subscribers to many of the world’s major airlines and will be at that time when The Gambia will achieve much international exposure.Finally we are very much happy and wish to thank President Jammeh and the minister of Tourism and Culture for her energy, expertise and motivation for really driving this publication through.”

David Morley, the British high commissioner to The Gambia, expressed delight at being part of the launching ceremony, which he described as important channel for exposure for The Gambia. He disclosed that his recent visit to the UK enabled him to have various meetings including one with Prime Minister David Cameroon and his Cabinet ministers. He said the message that Prime Minister Cameroon was promoting to approximately 220 British heads of mission around the world is one that is very close to President Jammeh in the way he is leading The Gambia.

“It’s been a pleasure for me to be able to see that dynamic vision from the president down to the vice president and the minister of Tourism and Culture who has been working so hard to promote this really important policy for The Gambia. It was a pleasure for me to write about The Gambia on the magazine and what I wrote on the magazine is exactly how I feel and I think now that I have been here a little longer, I feel more positive about the opportunities to The Gambia.

As I said, this is an issue that is very close to my heart because all British heads of mission around the world are actually encouraged to promote Britain’s interest,” said High Commissioner Morley, while acknowledging that the initiative will avail tourists the opportunity to see things beyond what they had traditionally seen.

He expressed hope that this kind of initiative as well as promoting new channel of investment in a regional context will encourage tourists to go a little bit further into the country and see what it has to offer. He congratulated government for the initiative and Declan and his team for the great effort.

Peter L. Engels of Ngala Lodge, expressed delight at being part of the Magazine publication, which showcases what The Gambia can offer in the tourism market. He said the opportunities attached to the publication are tremendous, underscoring the government’s willingness to help them tap those potential opportunities. “The government is open for all kinds of new initiatives and I think if our sector keeps going the way we are we will have a very successful tourism,” he opined.

Teneng Mba Jaiteh, the minister of Petroleum said: “We are quite happy and elated to contribute to the FIRST Magazine. I gladly accepted to be part of it because we in the Petroleum sector are engaged in marketing the sector to a wider audience and looking at the readership of FIRST Magazine, we know that it is very wide and could be a very good mechanism to market us to our targets in other parts of the world.”

She added that the fact that it is a British magazine would also give them an added value to explore their market potentials outside The Gambia as far as exploration is concerned in the country. Minister Jaiteh also described The Gambia as a country of limitless appeal with a stable economy.

Kebba Touray, the minister of Trade, said there cannot be any investment promotion opportunity than what is contained in the magazine. He added that with this new initiative, prospective investors are more assured of The Gambia’s potential in investment.