Gambia drops OIC Summit 2019, reaffirms its commitment to host in 2022

Gambia has announced that the West African country is not going to host summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2019.

The government of Gambia has declared in a press release that it seeking a deferment of the hosting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit to the year 2022, which was previously slated to take place in this year.

With the declaration of Gambian government of not hosting the OIC summit in 2019, media reports are claiming that the onus has been given to Saudi Arabia. Plenty of discussions is also going on over the web world about Gambia’s decision to drop the OIC summit, and the main reasons are reportedly government’s inadequate capacity towards meeting certain criteria like rehabilitation of roads and Hotels among other Infrastructural development.

“The decision followed a series of high-level consultations held with other African countries on the limited time available to have the needed infrastructure for the successful hosting of the 2019 OIC Summit,” the release from the government of Gambia states.

The release further states that the government was able to secure funding for the “Construction of a Dual Carriageway from Yundum via Bertil Harding Highway to the Sting Corner, Construction of a 400-room, 5 Star Hotel and 60 Luxury Suites, Construction of VIP Lounge at the Banjul International Airport, Enhanced Water Production, Transmission and Distribution, and Enhanced Power Transmission and Distribution Network.’

Given these huge tasks against the limited time factor, it became apparent that the country's ability to host the summit this year seems distant. Thus, the government opted to seek the deferment of its hosting of the Summit to the year 2022, when the next OIC summit is scheduled to take place. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to host the OIC summit in 2022.

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