The Gambia’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Bakary Y. Badjie, and the Cuban Ambassador to The Gambia, Rubén G. Abelenda, Tuesday signed a new Sports Cooperation Agreement to further strengthen relations between the two countries.
The signing of the agreement between the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Cuban National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) was held at the Cuban Embassy.
Honorable Badjie and Ambassador Abelenda affirmed that the new agreement constitutes another important step towards the intensification of cooperation and the very positive current bilateral ties.
For his part, from Havana, the president of INDER, Osvaldo C. Vento Montiller, sent a congratulatory message to Minister Badjie, in which he expressed his satisfaction for the signing of the agreement.
Vento Montiller underlines in his letter that this relevant event “strengthens the historical ties of brotherhood that unite our two peoples.”
In same text, the president of INDER assured that “The Gambia can continue to count on the unconditional support of Cuba in the sports sphere.”
The broad agreement, which replaces a previous one signed in 2004, aims to encourage, promote and intensify technical cooperation, and increase the exchanges of delegations and coaches, among other important aspects.
Minister Badjie commended the Cuban Medical Brigade in The Gambia for their support to the Ministry of Health and also for their commitments and dedications towards the good relationship both countries share.
“Our intention is to work for the people we are serving and as a Ministry, we are not only depending on our own government, we are looking others government in seeking more partnerships, because government is not having all the resources,” he said
Honorable Badjie, further stated that the Cuban Medical Brigade have been helpful and caring in terms of medical support and other relevant support and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) will pave the way for other opportunities for the youth to the Cuban sport movement.
Ambassador Sr. Ruben G. Abelenda, described the agreement as significant, stressing that step forward would be taken to strengthen the bond between Banjul and Havana.
“It is a way to find new routes to cooperate with Gambians specially to help the youths. The sport cooperation agreement is also for Gambians especially the Ministry of Youth and Sports to train our people Cubans in Gambia in football, because we are not really good at it,” he said.
Ambassador Abelenda urged that The Gambia can continue counting on the unconditional support of Cuba in the area of sports.
