Monrovia – The City Mayor of Monrovia Jefferson Koijee has presented the key of the City of Monrovia to Mr. Val Thompson, president of Houston International Trade Development Council and his delegation as a means of strengthening ties between the two sisterly cities.
Retired Judge Bill C. Littlejohn, Co-Founder, and Sustainable Agricultural Initiative for Liberia (SAIL), and Denise Adjei, Corporate Etiquette & International Protocol Consultant were part of the delegation from Houston.
Mr. Thompson as the head of the three member delegation read the Special Statement from the Mayor of Houston City, Mayor Sylvester Turner.
The special letter from the Mayor of Houston, amongst other things, expressed excitement over the need for a sisterly city establishment between Monrovia and the City of Houston.
Reading the special statement from the Mayor of Houston, Mr. Thompson said the proposed Sister City partnership between Houston and Monrovia will foster mutually beneficial solutions to common challenges for these two great entities.
“Consequently, the Sister City relationship between the two will be one of the most important in their network of global partnerships, as it strives to,” Mr. Thompson stated.
The letter states the encouragement and publicized the existing exchanges between Monrovia City and the City of Houston so that they can grow to benefit a wider cross-section of the citizens of both cities.
The partnership will also support and promote the development of new social, economic, academic, and community programs to encourage both cities citizens to share their experiences as a medium for learning from one another.
It further seeks to generate an improvement of the operation of the cities various government agencies by serving as a conduit of information. Identify themes that can generate new initiatives to further and nurture the increasingly powerful financial, social and cultural relationships between the cities.
The letter from the Mayor of Houston further noted that the two cities promote key mayoral priorities relevant to both Monrovia and Houston, provide financial or in-kind support to community-led programs that advance the aims of the Sister City partnership.
“With the above purposes in mind, the mayors of both cities Houston and Monrovia are united by an official partnership and to establish a Memorandum of Understanding,” the letter stated.
In response, Mayor Koijee says he was completely touched by the Houston delegates’ visit. He said, as Mayor of the City of Monrovia, he will continue to knock on the doors of cities around the globe to ease the many challenges his city is faced with.
“We are touched by your achievement from Houston. Let us now move from the theoretical approaches and delve into the practical engagement. We want to say that what you do here will serve as a trailblazer and we hope that it serves as a clarion call to a lot more people. Liberia is a place and a home for many African-Americans,” Mayor Koijee said.
The head of Houston delegation Mr. Thompson said he is passionate about Liberia and that his city, the Houston City needs to be involved in the development process of Monrovia City.
“I can tell you on behalf of the Mayor of Houston, he is very deciding and a powerful Mayor and he will get things done and we will be there to keep reminding him that we need to get things done in Liberia. So, I can assure you that we will do the things we have promised,” Mr. Thompson assured.