The Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Milton Gbehzohngar Findley is pleased over the launch and sustenance of the Public Feeding Initiative being undertaken by the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of India in Liberia, Upjit Singh Sachdeva, commonly known as Jetty, primarily for the less privileged segment of our population.

The Honorary Consul General of India, who himself is a distinguished entrepreneur in Liberia, has a history of excellent partnership and communal cooperation to the national development drive of Liberia. This we believe, is germane to strengthening the already cordial relationship between the people of the Republic of India and the people of the Republic of Liberia.

It can be recalled that over the years, the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of India, has been overly instrumental in ensuring that the Republic of India extends concrete bilateral support to the people of Liberia through several donations, including the number of buses provided the Government of Liberia through the National Transit Authority to enable easy access to public transportation across the country. Moreover, his investment corporation, JETTY Trading Corporation, has led a number of quick interventions through the provision of essential materials to the public since the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19).

It is our expectation that such public feeding initiative will go a long way in meeting the daily nutritional needs of underprivileged Liberians, as we continue to strive not only to combat this momentary pandemic, but also in reducing hunger and poverty in Liberia and across the globe.

As we may well know, ending hunger and poverty is an ambitious goal spewed forth by the Sustainable Development Goals, a global commitment of nations towards achieving a better world. As a signatory to said commitment, Liberia continues to strive towards attaining said goal; indicative of our demonstrated commitment reflected in the pillars of the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development. All of the pillars of the PAPD are inextricably tied towards the ultimate goal of ending poverty, hopelessness and deprivation which have attended the livelihood of ordinary Liberians for several decades.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hopeful that other friendly partners will emulate the good example of Honorary Consul General of India in Liberia, by reaching out to those in need especially so, in such crisis time when the underprivileged are protocol-bound to stay home which isolate their chances of fending for their daily survival.