Liberia & Japan Will Hold a Joint Committee Meeting on Tuesday
The Government of Liberia and the Government of Japan will be holding a Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 10:30 a.m. at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Minister’s Conference Room on the 4th floor. The Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) is an annual event that catalogs the Government of Japan’s contributions to Liberia’s social economic development programs that are “Pro-Poor” and to review all milestone achievements by the Government of Liberia as well as the positive impacts of the KR Food Aids Project (rice) and Non-Project Grant Aids (petroleum products) in Liberia.
The Government of Liberia will be represented by H.E Gbehzohngar Milton Findley, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia while H.E. Tsutomu HIMENO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Embassy of Japan will be representing the Government of Japan.
Since the inception of the Program in Liberia, the Government of Japan has provided 58,531.13 metric tons of assorted rice and 21,084.64 metric tons of mixed petroleum products, respectively.
It can be recalled in 2008, before the upsurge of the global financial meltdown, Former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf engaged in a bilateral arrangement with the Embassy of Japan near Accra, Ghana, for food aid assistance under the Japanese Oversea Development Assistance (ODA) Program for Africa. The first Exchange of Notes, (E/N), was signed between the Government of Liberia and the Government of Japan on August 18, 2008, and the first consignment of rice weighing 8,612 metric tons arrived March 2009.
As a direct result of the Japanese Grant Commodities monetization in Liberia, a number of economic recovery projects have been funded and executed by the Government Ministries and Agencies.
They are:
§ The Community Infrastructural Development Project (CIDP) at the cost US$5.6m for the opening of alleys along the Robert Field Highway corridor. This project is being implemented by the Ministry of Public Works.
§ The Paddy and Seed Rice Project at the cost of US$7.2m for both phase (1&2). This project is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture since 2009.
§ The construction of five (5) warehouses in Nimba, Bong, Lofa and Grand Gedeh Counties at the cost USD1.4m being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture.
§ The Small Medium Enterprises (SME) Project at the cost US$889,097 being implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry
§ The Liberia Innovative Fund for Enterprise Development (LIFE Fund) at the cost of USD665,000 being implemented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
§ The construction of three (3) bridges in Grand Cape Mount County at the cost USD1.9m being implemented by Grand Cape Mount County with the Ministry of Internal Affairs exercising oversight authority and
§ The Human Resource Capacity Building Project at the cost of USD731,412 being implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In addition to the economic recovery projects mentioned above, the Government of Japan is considering funding requests for the construction of 282 low-cost housing units in Sasstown, Grand Kru County to be rented out at a very minimum cost and the construction of a new Gorbachev Market in the Omega Community area at a proposed cost of US$4.2m. The JCM will be attended by all the seven (7) Ministerial Steering Committee members (Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Development Planning, Commerce and Industry and State and Chief of Staff to the President, Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) and the Director –General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) and private sector representative of FOUTA CORPORATION, UCI, SWAT, MOTC, PETROL TRADE AND KAILONDO PETROLEUM INC.
