On the afternoon of April 22, 2025, the Gambia Seminar on Digital Government Capacity Building, a China-aid training program hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China, guided by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, and undertaken by CIFAL Shanghai International Training Center (CIFAL Shanghai), was successfully launched in Shanghai. Attending the opening ceremony and delivering speeches were Fang Meng, a senior official from the Foreign Economic Affairs Division of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Wang Genxiang, director of CIFAL Shanhgai, and Awa Senghore, chief assistant secretary of the Gambia Ministry of Digital Economy.

Mr. Fang Meng, on behalf of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, extended a warm welcome to the Gambian participants and congratulated the successful launch of the training class. He pointed out that China, as a developing country, is not only committed to its own modernization but also places great emphasis on global development cooperation and is dedicated to promoting global prosperity.

Director Wang Genxiang, representing the undertaking organization, expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce for their strong support. He warmly welcomed the participants and stated that CIFAL Shanghai would invite government officials, experts, scholars, and frontline practitioners from China's digital government construction sector. They will engage in in-depth exchanges with the trainees on topics such as the application of digital technology in the digital transformation of government, as well as the development status and future application prospects in the fields of smart cities and big data governance.

Ms. Awa Senghore, on behalf of all participants, expressed sincere thanks to the Ministry of Commerce of China and CIFAL Shanghai. She noted that digital government construction has become a hot topic for many developing countries, including Gambia, in recent years. She hopes that through this seminar, Gambian participants will be able to learn from China's experience in digital government construction and discuss the development trends of digital government construction in the new era with Chinese experts. She also wished that the seminar would promote further cooperation between China and Gambia in the field of digital government construction and create a better future together.

This seminar is the first China-aid training course undertaken by CIFAL Shanghai in 2025. It lasts for 14 days and has 29 Gambian government officials participating. The opening ceremony was presided over by Wang Kemin, deputy director of CIFAL Shanghai. After the ceremony, Chinese leaders and all participants took a group photo as a memento.