By Feima Sesay.
The parliament of Sierra Leone has on Thursday 23 July 2020 unanimously ratified three cooperates agreements that were laid in the well of parliament last week. The bill is geared towards strengthening the bilateral relationship between Sierra Leone and Kuwait and to also create a platform for technical education and professional skills training. The following Agreements were ratified. Agreement on Cultural and Artistic Cooperation between Sierra Leone and the government of the state of Kuwait, dated 17 November 2019, Agreement on Cooperation in the field of Technical Education and Professional Training between the government of Sierra Leone and Kuwait dated 17 November 2019 and the Agreement on established joint Commission for Cooperation between Sierra Leone and Kuwait. Piloting the agreements, the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Solomon Jamiru said that the aforementioned agreements would further deepen and strengthen the bilateral relations and cooperation. The deputy minister added that the promotion of Cultural gaps will be a refinding step in the new trajectory relations recognizing fully the Artistic and cultural potential in our environs and how through relevant exchange and support the country can legalize those values to have the profound impact on the development landscape. He said the cooperation in the field of Technical Education and Professional Training would help crystallized the human capital development that will enable them into the social development goals. In further submission, he pointed that the agreement to establish a joint commission for cooperation between the two countries will provide an over craft framework to support the Agreement. In his contribution to the debate the minority whip of the opposition APC, Hon. Hassan Sesay said the bill is non controversial and therefore urge colleagues to speedily ratify the agreement. He added that the process is just to put a seal on the existing relationship Sierra Leone has with Kuwait and in order accord the Agreement the added significant and valued it deserve in order to strengthen the relationship. Hon. Hassan Sesay however noted that they should also looked at the areas of promoting cultural values so as to encourage people from other countries to come with the aim of boosting the industries and social values. The leader of government business Hon. Mathew Sahr Nyuma in his contribution supported the agreement describing it as non controversial. He added that the Agreement is to strengthen the country relationship with Kuwait that deals with promotion of education in terms of music industry, technology, vocational skills and training of personal. Hon. Nyuma emphasis the importance of strengthening the country’s relationship with Kuwait as he said it will enable citizens’ increase their skills in Artistic education. He said the agreement is non controversial but it lies on the individual state to ensure that they strengthen their relationship and work between the framework of the Agreements. In conclusion urged colleagues MPs to speedily ratify the agreements and follow the text of it that will enable the country benefit as he said education is the key to the development of any country. He however admonished the deputy minister to ensure the realization of the agreement and not to be business as usual by just putting it on their shelves after approval.
