MONROVIA: Having successfully concluded rounds of strategically planned high-profile meetings with the Who’s-Who of Washington’s top-ranking political and financial institutions, Liberia’s President-Elect Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. returned home this evening amidst tumultuous welcome from Liberians eager to see their leader as the nation prepares for his auspicious inauguration on January 22.
According to an official itinerary from the Office of the President-elect heralding his return to Liberia, Ambassador Boakai, Incoming First Lady Madam Kartumu Y. Boakai and entourage touched down at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) by 5:50 pm today, upon which the Liberian leader addressed the media about the outcomes of his most recent visit to the United States of America.
Former Vice President Boakai then departed the RIA for a thanksgiving service at the Effort Baptist Church at 7:15.
It can be recalled that President-elect Joseph Nyuma Boakai recently departed Liberia for the United States of America amidst widespread rumors that he had traveled to undergo open heart triple bypass surgery.
However, contrary to the unfounded rumors, President-elect Boakai has been actively engaged in Washington, DC where he held series of high-profile meetings with the USA State and Treasury Departments, the US Mission to the UN, IMF, World Bank, Corporate Council of Africa, and the US Institute of Peace, as well as with congressional and senior policy leaders, to craft a new strategic direction in Liberia-US partnership.
Providing tidbits about President-elect Boakai’s tour to the USA, Gbarpolu County Senator-elect Amara M. Konneh, who recently coordinated the Rescue Mission political campaign that saw Mr. Boakai narrowly edging out incumbent President George M. Weah during the November 14, 2023 presidential polls, carefully laid out Mr. Boakai’s tour, recanting that President-Elect Joseph Boakai met with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power on last Wednesday in Washington, DC.
“USAID’s development partnership with Liberia dates back to the very founding of the Agency in 1961. Ms. Power pledged USAID’s support to Mr. Boakai’s anti-corruption agenda,” Mr. Konneh asserted.
During separate meetings with the World Bank Managing Director Anna Bjerde in Washington, DC., and the IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the IMF Headquarters in Washington, DC., the global financial institutions acknowledged the challenges Liberia faces and committed to assisting the Boakai-Koung Administration in mobilizing much-needed resources to stabilize the economy in the short run while the new Administration sets into motion a comprehensive strategy to boost both domestic and external resource mobilization for development financing, Konneh averred.
“The welcome receptions by both the World Bank and IMF were overwhelming! It was such an honor to be recognized for my contribution to the Bank’s Gragikity, Conflict, Conflict, and Regional Integration agenda during the meetings,” stated the lead facilitator of the Boakai administration.
Also, as part of President-elect Boakai’s itinerary, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) was privileged to host a Business Roundtable on December 19th where Mr. Boakai thanked the Corporate Council on Africa for hosting the event and underscored his intent to create a more business-friendly investment climate.
President-Elect Joseph Boakai as well had a breakfast roundtable with senior US policymakers from the White House, Congress Foreign and Appropriations Committees, State, Commerce Department, MCC, and US Trade Representative, organized by the United States Institute of Peace.
A spinoff of this engagement was a strategic meeting with US Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, chair of the Ethics Committee and the senior Democrat on two subcommittees: The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and Law and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.
Mr. Boakai also met with Jay Shambaugh US Undersecretary for International Affairs and Alice Albright, CEO of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
“These relationships will be useful to the President-Elect’s economic team for macroeconomic stability, illicit financing, and a second MCC Compact for Liberia.,” Mr. Konneh reiterated.