This article covers India's development partnership with The Gambia, cooperation in health, digital technology, solar energy and defence, and trade between the two countries. It is based on the MEA bilateral brief of April 2026. The brief's trade material is short, so trade is covered here alongside development and economic cooperation.

Lines of credit

According to the MEA brief of April 2026, The Gambia, as an LDC, has been a recipient of India's development assistance. India has extended 8 concessional Lines of Credit worth US$ 114.45 mn to the Government of The Gambia, including 2 LOCs extended through the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID). They financed projects in agriculture, construction, water and power, all of which have been completed, and include the National Assembly Building Complex in Banjul.

Grant projects

Under the IAFS-I Scheme, a Vocational Training Center (VTC) cum Incubation Center (IC) was set up in Banjul with a full grant from the Government of India and handed over to the Gambian authorities in September 2017. It trains people in plumbing, welding, electrical work, construction, carpentry, craftsmanship, survey, plastic technology, ICT, agro and food processing, and gem-stone cutting and polishing, among other disciplines.

A grant of USD 500,000 was announced during the President's visit to The Gambia in July 2019 for a skill development and cottage industry project. In September 2021, The Gambia requested a change of purpose so that the grant could be used to buy dialysis machines for hospitals, and the re-purposing was announced during the visit of Minister of State Shri V. Muraleedharan in November 2021.

Forty dialysis machines, costing approximately Rs. 3.3 cr, were procured and handed over to the Ministry of Health of The Gambia on 16 March 2024 at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul. The brief states that the machines have been installed and have been functioning since 11 December 2024.

Covid-19 and disaster management

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, India donated a large quantity of medicines to The Gambia. In March 2021, India also provided 36,000 doses of Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility.

The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) of The Gambia, in partnership with the UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa, Sahel, secured funding of US$ 0.9 million from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for a project on "Using of Drones and Early Warning system for Pre and Post-Floods Disaster Management in The Gambia". The brief records that the project was implemented in November 2021.

Digital cooperation

On 3 October 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India and the Republic of The Gambia signed, in New Delhi, a "Memorandum of Understanding On Cooperation in the field of sharing successful Digital Solutions implemented at population scale for digital transformation", an MoU on cooperation in Digital Public Infrastructure.

Solar energy

The Gambian Minister of Petroleum & Energy, Mr. Fafa SANYANG, took part in the ISA Founding Conference in New Delhi in March 2018, the First ISA Assembly and 2nd Re-Invest in New Delhi in October 2018, and the 2nd General Assembly Meeting in New Delhi in October 2019. The Gambia has signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement, and the instrument of ratification was handed over to the Indian side during the Presidential visit to The Gambia in July 2019.

Defence

Gambian defence leaders have attended India's defence exhibitions:

  • The Gambian Minister of Defence, Mr. Sheik Omar Faye, took part in DEFEXPO 2020 in Lucknow from 5-8 February 2020 and in the India-Africa Defence Ministers Meet on its margins.
  • The Minister of Defence, Mr. Sering Modou Njie, and the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Yakuba Drammeh, took part in the 12th DefEXpo and the 2nd India-Africa Defence Dialogue at Gandhinagar from 18-22 October 2022.
  • Mr. Sering Modou Njie and Ms. Rohie Bittaye-Darboe, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, took part in AERO INDIA 2025 at Bengaluru from 10-14 February 2025.

Trade

The brief states that bilateral trade between the two countries has been growing steadily. India's major exports to The Gambia are rice, cotton yarn, fabrics and made-ups, plastics, cosmetics and toiletries, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and semi-finished iron and steel products. The Gambia's main exports to India are raw cashew and ferrous and non-ferrous scrap. The Gambia is a beneficiary of India's Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) scheme, which promotes Gambian exports to India.

The brief gives the following trade figures in million US$, citing the Export Import Database of the Department of Commerce, Government of India:

  • 2019-20: India's exports 132.33, imports 39.65, total trade 171.98, balance of trade 92.68
  • 2020-21: India's exports 121.59, imports 38.41, total trade 160.00, balance of trade 83.18
  • 2021-22: India's exports 153.27, imports 43.49, total trade 196.76, balance of trade 109.78
  • 2022-23: India's exports 122.60, imports 51.15, total trade 173.75, balance of trade 71.45
  • 2023-24: India's exports 175.95, imports 41.41, total trade 217.36, balance of trade 134.54
  • 2024-25: India's imports 45.04, total trade 161.20, balance of trade 75.12 (the export figure is misprinted in the brief)
  • 2025-26, up to December 2025: India's exports 94.96, imports 66.87, total trade 161.83, balance of trade 28.09

The Gambia's Minister of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment, Mr. Baboucarr Ousmaila Joof, took part in the 20th CII India-Africa Business Conclave in New Delhi, scheduled from 27 to 29 August 2025.