Foreign Service Institute Hosts Debates, Lectures-Nyanti, Pailey among featured keynote speakers

MONROVIA  – The Gabriel L. Dennis Foreign Service Institute will stage a weeklong program of debates and lectures. The series is tied to Liberia’s coming presidency of the United Nations Security Council. It links classroom training to a moment of unusually elevated diplomatic responsibility for Liberia. Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti and scholar Robtel Neajai Pailey are among the featured speakers. Student teams will argue motions on sovereignty, economic openness and citizenship across two days. Senior jurists, diplomats and academics will judge the exchanges and assess the competing arguments. The program runs alongside the George W. Wallace, Jr. Ambassadorial Lecture Series. As THE ANALYST reports, the institute has described the events as preparation for future Liberian diplomats.

The Gabriel L. Dennis Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host a weeklong series of debates and lectures highlighting Liberia’s coming presidency of the United Nations (UN) Security Council. The institute says the program is designed to sharpen critical thinking, research, public speaking and analytical skills among its students.

Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti will deliver a lecture on Liberia’s presidency of the UN Security Council on Friday, August 21, 2026. Her address will form part of the bi-annual George W. Wallace, Jr. Ambassadorial Lecture Series.

Lineup of speakers

Former Foreign Minister Olubanke King Akerele will speak on the role of Liberian women in shaping international organizations. Policy Advisory Committee Chairman Amb. B. Elias Shoniyin will address how Liberia’s Security Council presidency aligns with its foreign-policy objectives.

House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Hon. Nehker E. Gaye will lecture on lawmaking that affects foreign policy. UNDP Resident Representative Aliou Mamadou Dia will speak on the UN Development Programme’s role in economic development across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Cllr. Jallah A. Barbu, Executive Director of the War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC), will address the court’s work and its implications for national healing. Amb. Soulay Daramy of Sierra Leone’s Foreign Service Academy will close the lecture series with a regional case study.

Pailey’s public lecture

Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, an assistant professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the 2025 National Orator, will share insights on citizenship and national development. Her remarks will follow the final round of the inaugural FSI debates.

The IBB School of Public and International Affairs, with the FSI, will launch Dr. Pailey’s 2026 public lecture on Wednesday, August 26, at the C. Cecil Dennis Memorial Auditorium. The lecture will examine South-South cooperation and competing views of development assistance.

Three debate motions

The inaugural debates, set for August 20 and 21, will feature three motions on sovereignty, economic development and citizenship. Group B and Group C will open with a motion on the relevance of national sovereignty on Thursday, August 20, at 9:00 a.m.

A second motion on the Open Door Policy will follow at 2:00 p.m. the same day. The final motion, on the constitutional citizenship clause, will be debated on Friday, August 21, after the ambassadorial lecture.

Judges and organizers

The judging panel will draw from the legal, diplomatic, academic, public-policy and civil-society communities. It will include Cllr. Jallah A. Barbu; former Associate Justice Kabineh M. Ja’neh; Dr. Aaron Weah; Dr. Mamadou L. Bah; Nathaniel T. Blama, Sr.; Paula L. M. Kendor; and Mydea White Simmons.

Dr. Laurence K. Bropleh, a former Minister of Information and FSI lecturer, will moderate the events. The debate initiative was led by Dr. Anthony Hinneh with Director General Reginald B. Goodridge, Sr.

Winning and runner-up teams will receive trophies, while all participating teams will receive certificates of participation. The FSI says the debates complement its broader program of intellectual engagement for future Liberian diplomats.