Monrovia – An Ivorian business delegation visiting Liberia has shown strong interest to invest in agriculture, construction, and transportation as part of efforts to strengthen the partnership between businesses of two sisterly countries in the Mano River Union.
“Agriculture is the number one. There are lots we can do in agriculture because Liberia has the same soil as Cote D’Ivoire. We also believe in the construction business. On our side, there are firms that are going to welcome that. And, we got some of the people in Cote D’Ivoire that are interested in the transportation business. I understand that transportation is one of the needs of Liberians. So, those are the three areas that we are going to start with,” Ahmed Cisse, Vice President of the Confederation Generale des Enterprises De Cote D’Ivoire said.
The visit to Liberia marks a similar business forum meeting that was held in September 2018 in Abidjan between the government of Liberia and leaders of the Ivoirians business sector.
There in that meeting, President George Weah told his Ivorian counterpart that his country (Liberia) was ready and open for business.
The business opportunities economic cooperation between Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire was held on Thursday, November 14, 2019, at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town.
The delegation brought along with them about 25 business entrepreneurs to have a glance at what it takes to do business in Liberia.
Giving his welcome remark, the Chairman of the National Investment Commission Molewuwleh B. Gray praised the Ivorian team for their visit adding that the business forum marks a shift of a paradigm in the life of the two countries.
“This administration is resolved to attract business to Liberia. The potential to create entrepreneurs is encouraging. We have the climate and the land but the only thing we need is the technical know-how. To our Ivorians counterpart, consider Liberia as a new investment area,” Gray said.
“We are not only doing diplomacy, but we are also doing economics diplomacy between our countries,” Liberia Ambassador to Cote D’Ivoire H.E. Willye Mai Tolbert-King added.
Ambassador King was part of the Liberian team last year that was able to connect with Ivorian Chamber of Commerce along with the private sector to partner and foster development in the two sisterly counties.
“We are looking forward to at least six months from now to see what will develop from this investment forum that we have had today,” Ambassador King said.
Adding up, the Minister of Ministry of Commerce and Industry Professor Wilson Tarpeh praised his counterpart for the business conference adding that since after the war Liberia’s economy has been supported by foreign aid something he says need to change.
“All of these inflows will help the growing number we have in the country,” Minister Tarpeh said.
For his part, Augustine Flomo, Liberia’s Deputy Finance Minister for Economy and Debt Management explains how the Ebola crisis has caused a serious decline in Liberia’s private sector.
Deputy Minister Flomo added: “Our production activities had been hindered. Helping your sister country is a step in the right direction. No country works while the private sector is as sleep.”
At the end of the Business Forum, an MOU was signed between the Liberia Business Association and Ivorian private sector