Dr Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, will on behalf of President Adama Barrow attend the Group (G-77) plus China Summit scheduled for 15 and 16 September this year in Havana, Cuba.

This development emerged following the visit of Cuba's Ambassador Sir Ruben G. Abelenda, to Dr Tangara's office in Banjul on Wednesday.

Ambassador Ruben informed that The Gambia would be present at the summit with a high-level delegation headed by Minister Tangara at the G-77 Summit.

At the meeting held on Wednesday in Banjul, Dr Tangara and Ambassador Abelenda discussed preparations for the Havana event and its current importance for the countries of the South.

Both took advantage of the occasion to also address the positive and historic relations of friendship and cooperation that exist between their respective governments and people.

The G-77 and China Summit in Cuba will have as its central theme "Current development challenges: Role of Science, Technology and Innovation, and its fundamental objective will be to draw up strategies to make humanity better, more just and truly democratic.

At times it faces complex challenges, and unity becomes essential to overcome them.

The oldest Antillean archipelago has been an active member of that negotiating bloc of developing countries, the largest and most diverse, the one with the greatest coordination. It is made up of 134 states that represent 80 per cent of the world's population and two thirds of UN membership.

However, in an earlier interview with The Point, Ambassador Ruben noted that President Adama Barrow's attendance would further strengthen the relations of the two countries, a responsibility Dr Tangara will be stepping into.

He stated that the visit of a president to a nation helps a lot to strengthen relations the between countries because they talk at the high level. "Many problems can be solved at that moment which can't be solved at the medium level," he added.