Gambia

Political relations

• Visit to Banjul by Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, (5 November 2018).
• Meeting of Ousainou Darboe, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Amadou Sanneh, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, with Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs (24 May 2018).
• Meeting of Ba Tambadou, Minister of Justice of Gambia, with Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs (8 September 2017).
• Meeting of Ahmad Fatty, Minister of the Interior of Gambia, with Matthias Fekl, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad (24 March 2017).
• Official visit to France by Adama Barrow (14-16 March 2017).
• President Barrow participated in the Bamako Summit for Partnership, Peace and Emergence on 13 and 14 January 2017, where he met with President François Hollande.

Economic relations

Trade between Gambia and France remains limited. France is the country’s 15th-largest supplier and 15th-largest customer. French imports are exclusively agrifood products (peanuts and by-products) while exports mainly concern equipment and intermediary goods.

Our exports stood at €8 million in 2016, with imports at €5 million, made up almost entirely of food oils.

There are few French companies working in Gambia. Total has a network of service stations. In 2009, the Castel Group took over a beer and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing plant. CFAO maintains a vehicle dealership. CMA CGM and AGS are present in the transport and logistics sectors, Eiffage in public works, and Bolloré in logistics. The electricity sector, particularly renewable energy (solar and wind power), and water treatment may offer many opportunities. A delegation of businesspeople based in Dakar visited Banjul on 15 and 16 May 2017.

At the French Interministerial Committee on International Cooperation and Development (CICID) meeting of 8 February 2018, chaired by the Prime Minister, Gambia was added to the list of 19 priority countries for French development assistance. The Agence Française de Développement (AFD, French Development Agency) already supports the Gambia River Basin Development Organization and can provide non-sovereign loans in Gambia via its subsidiary PROPARCO. The addition of Gambia to the list of priority countries opens up new prospects for activities in the form of project grants.