Gambia News : The Gambia exempts Senegalese citizens from alien tax

Jan 09,2010 00:00 by tijan

The Gambian government has decided to waive the obligation of the payment of alien tax for Senegalese nationals residing in the country, APA learns here Thursday.

The announcement was made on Wednesday night in Dakar after a two- day friendship and working visit President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal made to The Gambia on 5 and 6 January.

Senegalese nationals are estimated by some sources at over 300, 000 in this country nestled in the heart of Senegalese territory.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to which The Gambia and Senegal are adhered to, advocates the free movement of goods and people.

Desiring to strengthen their bilateral relations, the two countries have also agreed to work “constructively” to the establishment of a Permanent Senegambian Secretariat, said the joint statement signed at the end of President Wade’s visit to Banjul.

The statement also notes that the two delegations also agreed to hold the next meeting of the Joint Commission between the two countries in April 2010.

The two sides agreed in their determination to find a joint solution to their border differences, through the Consultative Border Commission.

They signed to this effect an agreement on cooperation in security to ensure the strengthening of peace and security between the two countries, and also to ensure that neither party harbours dissidents of the other country.