Sierra Leone's Ambassador to Liberia, Her Excellency Revered Dr Marie Barnett has commended the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dean of the Cabinet, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan for starting what she termed as a new paradigm shift in the country's diplomatic area. Minister Ngafuan, in his effort to pay courtesy calls on all the foreign diplomatic missions and embassies accredited near Monrovia, met with the Sierra Leonean Ambassador which was held at the Sierra Leonean Embassy in Congo Town late last week. Ambassador Barnett acts as the Acting Doyen in the absence of the Guinean Ambassador, His Excellency Alhaji Abdulaye Dore who is the Doyen of the Diplomatic Corps here.

Dr. Barnett described the Liberian Foreign Minister’s initiative as welcoming. She expressed her joy that the Foreign Minister began his courtesy calls with the Sierra Leonean Embassy. Expressing her satisfaction over the Minister’s beginning of what she termed as a dialogue, the Sierra Leonean Ambassador added: “That you come to us is like Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. That you have done that, God will continue to sustain you in that position”. The Sierra Leonean Envoy also recounted the eleven and ten years of peace respectively for Sierra Leone and Liberia as some of the common identifies between the both countries. She used the Liberian Foreign Minister’s visit to reflect on the common bonds existing between Liberia and Sierra Leone, including the sharing of nine different dialects found on both sides of the border, the same cultures and collaborations, among others including the sharing of the Gola Forest together.

Responding, Foreign Minister Ngafuan disclosed that it is appropriate that he was meeting with the Sierra Leonean Ambassador as his first stop as he began his courtesy visits to the various embassies and foreign missions here. The Liberian Foreign Minister expressed joy that he was beginning with the Mano River Countries to further demonstrate how close the MRU countries are. “We want to use this opportunity to get more familiar, although diplomatically you will always come to me. I just feel that once in a while I should come”, the Foreign Minister stated. He also used the visit to see the new facilities of the Sierra Leonean Embassy for the first time since a tight schedule prevented him from doing so during the official dedication of the Embassy last year.