Banjul, 21 August 2025 — The Organisation of Southern Cooperation (OSC) undertook an official visit to the Republic of The Gambia, led by its Secretary-General, Manssour Bin Mussallam, with the purpose of consolidating strategic ties and exploring new areas of collaboration in support of national and regional priorities.
On the first day of the visit, the Secretary-General met with the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Hon. Dr. Habibatou Drammeh. The meeting built on earlier exchanges between the OSC and the Ministry, reaffirming their shared commitment to advancing equitable and inclusive education. Discussions also addressed the development of open-source educational technologies and capacity-building programmes. On this occasion, the Secretary-General extended an invitation to the Minister to participate in the IV ForumBIE 2030, which will take place in 2026.
The second day was marked by fruitful meetings with the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Prof. Pierre Gomez, and the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Dr. Ismaila Ceesay. The exchanges focused on key areas of cooperation, including the establishment of the regional Transdisciplinary Research Centre (ITRC) for West Africa and the strengthening of the FREYRE academic mobility programme —Framework to Reinforce Exchanges between Youth and Regions through Education— within the framework of the Southern Commission on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital infrastructure to promote a Third Way of Development.
Through this visit, the OSC reaffirmed its commitment to working alongside The Gambia on transformative initiatives that place education, science, and innovation at the service of a more inclusive, sustainable, and sovereign development for the Greater South.
