The United Nations under-secretary general and executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Abdoulie Janneh, Thursday met the vice president and minister of Women's Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy at her office at State House in Banjul.

The Gambian-born UN top shot, who is based in Addis Abba, Ethiopia was accompanied to State House by the UN Resident coordinator in The Gambia, Chinwe Dike. Speaking to reporters shortly after his audience with the vice president, Janneh disclosed that he is in the country on a visit, and felt it is proper to pay a courtesy call on the vice president. He said he used the opportunity to wish her happy Ramadan, and through her, to the Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, the government and the people of The Gambia.

"We used the opportunity to briefly discuss issues both of global and continental nature as well as issues between The Gambia and the ECA and the continuous UN support to The Gambia," stated the UN under-secretary general, who further disclosed that they discussed global and continental issues, among them the upcoming MDG Summit, which will take place in New York, United States of America this year.

He explained that this will give them an opportunity as well as individual countries to really review progress that has been made towards meeting the goals set in this global framework and to see how they could optimally support countries so that progress is being made and indeed if possible, the MDG's are achieved. Janneh said his discussion with VP Njie-Saidy also touched on gender issues, which according to him, she is very interested in.

ECA-Gambia issue
Janneh stated that they also spoke about ECA's ongoing collaboration with The Gambia in key areas notably gender and trade. He added that the meeting with the vice president also gave him the opportunity to speak on some new areas where they feel they could provide support to the country, like climate change, as well as plans to work with the government of The Gambia in setting up strategies and identifying programmes that will be supported.

He further stated that they have a centre for statistics at the ECA as well as an African Centre for Statistics, and that he discussed with the vice president issues relating to statistics and how they can complement government's efforts in the development process. Janneh said he was also privileged to discuss with VP Njie-Saidy about some of the support the UN country team based here is rendering as part of their cooperation with the government of The Gambia.

"I think the vice president is very much appreciative of this and of course, there is still a lot more to be done," he added. He promised that they will work in earnest with their country team and see how soon they can send in a scooping mission, just to see what is the demand and needs, the extent of the problems and how the ECA can support the country in these areas.