Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Ms. Fatmata Kargbo has paid a courtesy call on the Sierra Leone Chancery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to meet with the staff of the Mission. Madam Fatmata Kargbo is in Riyadh to attend the second edition of UNIDO’s Multilateral Industrial Policy Forum (MIPF) scheduled for the 23rd and 24th October, 2024.
In her statement, Madam Kargbo said she thought it prudent to visit the Chancery on her first working visit to Saudi Arabia in order to meet and interact with the staff of the Embassy to know how they were faring on with work.
The Deputy Minister informed the meeting that His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio acknowledged the great work the staff of the Sierra Leone Mission in Saudi Arabia were doing. On the purpose of her visit to Saudi Arabia, she said she was representing her immediate boss, the Minister of Trade, in this year’s MIPF, on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone, to explore effective industrial policy solutions and find ways
to unlock development opportunities that would complement His Excellency’s vision. She said this included finding ways to achieve the Big Five Game Changers: FEED SALONE, Human Capital Development, Youth Empowerment, Revamping the Public Service Architecture and achieving Sustained Economic Growth through Technology and Infrastructure.
The deputy minister therefore encouraged the staff of the Embassy to develop strategies that would unlock investment opportunities for Sierra Leone.
*’To achieve this, you should inculcate the culture of teamwork, unity, collaboration, and coordination to expand and deepen partnership and development between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sierra Leone. Saudi Arabia is an economic powerhouse in the Middle East, with an increasing influence globally, and as our ambassadors here, you can leverage relations with the Kingdom to foster development and strengthen partnerships in agriculture, health, education and humanitarian assistance on the continent, which is in line with the G
overnment’s Big Five Game Changers,’* Madam Fatmata Kargbo said.
The deputy minister also spoke about President Bio’s commitment to women’s empowerment, adding that the Bio administration’s 30% quota representation seeks to address the gender imbalances in Sierra Leone’s governance architecture, thereby making provision for increased elective positions for women. She urged the Embassy to also consider implementing the 30% quota representation in employment.
The Charge D’Affaires, Ambassador Mohamed Hassan Koroma, commended the deputy minister for sparing time out of her busy schedule to pay the courtesy visit to the Chancery. He also buttressed Madam Kargbo’s statement on the significance of the 30% quota representation of women in the Government, which he said was permissible as stated in the Quran, that both men and women are spiritually equal. He made reference to a hadith of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who emphasized that children should give support to their mothers three times more than their fat
hers.
The Head of Chancery of the Embassy, Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabba, and other staff of the Embassy spoke on some of the key activities undertaken by the Embassy as well as the challenges.
Source: Sierra Leone News Agency
