By Fatoumatta Conteh
Officials of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) on Thursday 2nd February 2023, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA), in order to solidify and strengthen the working relationship between the institutions.
The signing ceremony which took place at the GRA head office in Banjul, brought together the management and senior staff of the revenue authority and executives of GIEPA.
According to the organizers, the MoU IS meant to enhance collaboration between both parties on cross-cutting mandates and the need to protect the economic interest of the Gambia by sharing relevant information.
Speaking before signing ceremony, Yankuba Darboe, Commissioner General for GRA welcomed the idea of his institution’s collaboration with GIEPA and to for the two institution’s to work in a mature manner, so as to create a platform that will enable them achieve their common objectives.
“If we want to achieve these objectives, we need an MoU which we will respect, to give us an opportunity to exchange data at any given time since we (GRA) control everything at our level,” Darboe said. He further highlighted the important roles GIEPA plays in the country, which he described as ‘very pivotal’, since the institution help businesses grow, and that when there are more businesses established, it means more revenues for the country.
“It is easy to sign, but we need to look into the benefits, and the staff who will be directly and indirectly involved in the implementation should also be aware of the MoU’s content, so that we can achieve our goals together,’’ Essa Jallow, deputy commissioner general for GRA remarked.
On his part, Ousainou Senghore, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GIEPA talked on the formal and informal relation that GIEPA has with GRA, stating that both mandates of the two institutions is to promote investment, export, enterprise development and business, and that all of these four functions involves GRA.
“Naturally, we (GIEPA) cannot attract investment without GRA, and business ranking cannot happen in the Gambia without GRA, because GRA is a key variable and determinant,’’ Senghore said.
