It is common to hear people talk about women's empowerment and the liberation of women from poverty and domestic oppression and exploitation as pre-requisites for national development. Issues concerning women are hence integrated in the national policies and programmes. What is different, however, is the practicalisation of such policy statements.

One very important thing the world must have realised now is that decades of alienation of the women folk have deprived the world of their invaluable contributions. We in The Gambia are grateful for the fact that we were among the first few to have seen the need to empower the women as a result of the foresight and intellect demonstrated by our thoughtful leadership.

This government has done so much that it is increasingly becoming a daunting task to enumerate its achievements. But a number of the achievements registered are so compelling that we need not endeavour to explain them. This is because of their significance in terms of accelerating the development process of the nation. The potential significance of these sectors concerned is what dictates the urge of the country's leadership to give them the utmost attention they need.

Efforts to empower the Gambian woman, for instance, has been a prominent feature in the development master plan with the president himself displaying a complete show of interest on the issue. In fact, the president's continued support for the cause of women in general, and Gambian women in particular, has earned him a recognition he enjoys far beyond the borders of this country.

This is why the ongoing empowerment of women could not be ignored at the sectorial meeting of offices of under the Office of the Vice President.We are optimistic that Gambian women would continue to recorgnise these developments and always be at the vanguard of national development.