By Theresa Kef Sesay
The non-resident High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to the Republic of India has, on the 13th December 2021, presented his Letters of Credence to the Honorable President of the Republic of India, Ram Nath Kovind during a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Presidential House in New Delhi.
Shortly after the presentation ceremony, High Commissioner Rashid Sesay held a bilateral meeting with the Indian President, where he conveyed warm greetings from President Dr Julius Maada Bio to his Indian counterpart. He said that the two countries had enjoyed a relationship spanning over decades and expressed appreciation to the Government and People of India for its contributions to Sierra Leone, particularly through the deployment of officers on a peacekeeping mission during the country’s civil war.
High Commissioner Sesay noted that Sierra Leone acknowledged and welcomed the scholarship opportunities provided to its nationals by the Indian Government, saying that was within President Bio’s Human Capital Agenda. He said the visit of the Indian Vice President to Sierra Leone in late 2019 had helped to bolster and strengthen the bonds of friendship and bilateral relations between the two nations, adding that since the visit, there had been a lot of tangibles on both ends. He assured of Sierra Leone’s commitment to strengthening the ties.
The Sierra Leone Envoy also conveyed President Julius Maada Bio’s condolences to the People of India for the death of the Late Indian Chief of Defense Staff, General Bipin Rawat who was killed last week during an helicopter crash.
President Kovind recalled that in 2020, the Government of India opened a resident Mission in Sierra Leone as a show of their commitment to deepen ties with the West African State. He said India remained one of the key trade partners to Sierra Leone and added that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between the two countries had grown. He said he was pleased that India had supported projects in Sierra Leone in several areas including education, power, water and agriculture.
“As you begin your journey as Sierra Leone’s High Commissioner to India, I wish you all success towards strengthening India-Sierra Leone relations,” he ended.
Over the years, the South Asian country has provided a lot of assistance to Sierra Leone particularly in the fields of tertiary education, healthcare delivery and agriculture. It also played an important role through peacebuilding and the post-war reconstruction process in Sierra Leone. It could be remembered that in October 2019, the Honorable Vice President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu visited Sierra Leone and met with His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio, during which they discussed relations between the two countries and explored more avenues for deeper collaboration.
