France has pledged to support the extension of the mandate of the ECOMIG mission in The Gambia.

The country’s Charge d’affaires, Joel Godeau, has disclosed to the Gambia’s Foreign minister Dr Mamadou Tangara last Thursday during a courtesy call in Banjul.

The French Charge d’affaires, who is based in Senegal, also informed the minister of the arrival in Dakar of the new French Ambassador accredited to The Gambia and requested the minister’s intervention to facilitate the early presentation of Letters of Credence to President Adama Barrow.

In his response, Minister Tangara said he would liaised with Office of the President to facilitate the presentation of Letters of Credence before end of January 2020.

Foreign Minister Tangara raised the need for issuance of long term visas to Gambians traveling on official and business trips to France.

Dr. Tangara appealed for the two countries to work on the establishment of French visa processing centre in the country “in order to prevent Gambians traveling to Senegal for visa processing which is time consuming and costly”.

The two are officials also discussed the forthcoming Africa – France summit due to be held in Bordeaux, France on June 4, 2020.

Two years ago the French Government designated The Gambia as a priority country for French Official Development Assistance (ODA) after the end of dictatorship in the country and has announced 50 million euro financing package that will run until 2022.