State House, Banjul, 3rd September 2019 – Rtd. Hon. Tony Blair, Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) and former long-time UK Prime Minister has extolled the remarkable progress registered in The Gambia since President Barrow took office.
Following what he described as ‘‘an excellent discussion with the president’’ on various areas of development, Honourable Blair told the State House press corps that the country was changing for the better.
“I think The Gambia has made huge progress in recent times’’, Mr. Blair said. ‘‘The Gambia has got high [economic] growth rate, tourism is up substantially and there are still big challenges but I found the president very focused on those and I am very optimistic about the future of the country”.
The former Prime Minister said he was excited about the strong partnership between the presidency and his organization in improving performance and delivery on the priorities of the president as per the National Development Plan.
Meeting with State House Top Brass
Shortly after his engagement with President Barrow, Hon. Blair also held a closed-door meeting with senior officials of the presidency. According to the Director of Press and Public Relations, Ms. Amie Bojang- Sissoho, the meeting was held for the former British Prime Minister to exchange ideas with the senior staff of the presidency with the hope of enhancing delivery and performance.
The discussions touched on management and coordination strategies among the various units at the Presidency, and wider government by extension to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. Mr Blair informed the meeting that he has observed marked improvement at the Presidency since he started visiting in 2017.
TBI-Gambia works closely with the Department of Strategic Policy and Delivery (DSPD) at the Office of the President to help galvanise and coordinate various policy activities of the government in order to maximize outputs. The work of the TBI in The Gambia focuses on delivery and performance.
Press Release, President’s Officer
