Gustavo Kao, the sales specialist at International Trade Department of Sub Ten Pharmaceutical and Mr J-Wen Liang, planet manager at the same company which is based in Taipei, Taiwan, yesterday paid a courtesy call on President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh at State House, Banjul. The two Sub Ten officials were led to State House by Dr Patrick Chang, Taiwanese ambassador to The Gambia.

The company specialises in manufacturing traditional medicine and produces more than 500 kinds of products.

Speaking to journalists shortly after their audience with the Gambian leader, Dr Patrick Chang, Taiwanese ambassador to The Gambia, said the visit was meant to brief the president on the state of traditional medicine in Taiwan. Dr Chang recalled that the president visited Sun Ten Pharmaceutical during his last visit to Taiwan in December 2007, when he invited the company to Banjul to explore the possibility of cooperation with the Gambian companies.

"We have discussed with President Jammeh in detail on the cooperation and we tried to look forward to the possibility of a joint venture in the future," he told journalists.

He said Taiwan recognises both Western and traditional medicines. "We are interested in the president's treatment and we know that the information is there. We have also talked about it and we will try to help in manufacturing the traditional medicines into liquid or tablets," he concluded.

In a similar engagement, Madam Josette Shaje Tshiluila, regional director of the Agency of Franco-phone University, also called on the the president. She told reporters she discussed with the president matters relating to their agency, adding that the Franco-Phony agency is a multi-national agency with a membership of 659 universities with 70 members in the five continents.

Ms Tshiluila expressed their readiness to work with the University of The Gambia, which the president heads as the chancellor. "We also discussed ways to ensure the establishment of a digital campus for the UTG for distance learning, and also ways and means in which the agency can intervene by providing lecturers for the UTG," she concluded.