The Gambia and South Africa on Friday 9^th May signed a bilateral air agreement that would allow air transport between the two countries. Officials of the South African embassy based in Dakar and senior officials of the Gambian Department of State foe Communication put pen on the agreement paper in a ceremony held at the Kairaba Beach hotel .Though agreements of such kind often come after long and difficult negotiations, observers told the Gambia Journal that this one was remarkably smooth and speedy. Currently The Gambia has no airline of its own equipped to exploit the opportunities of the agreement and many airlines have transferred to neighboring Dakar for safety and economic reasons. Many travelers are now forced to use Dakar ’s Leopold Sedar Senghore airport for connections. Speaking at the signing ceremony Mr. Noah Touray of the Department of Communication said that “we in The Gambia are fully committed to the terms of the agreement and are prepared for it to take effect even next Monday.” An official of the South African embassy said the agreement is “mutually beneficial and critical to African integration.”