DENMARK

Nordic Parliamentary Delegation Concludes Visit to Liberia
Saturday, 23rd January 2010

Monrovia, Liberia - Parliamentarians from Denmark and Norway on January 22 concluded an assessment visit to Liberia, expressing satisfaction over Liberia’s progress.

A senior member of the delegation, representing parliamentarians from Nordic countries, said she was satisfied to see firsthand how much ordinary Liberians are benefitting from assistance provided by partners. “It is an account that you sometimes cannot get in a report,” Ms. Marion Pedersen pointed out during a courtesy call on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Members of the delegation said they were returning to their respective countries reassured that support provided is making a difference in Liberia.  “We feel that you are on the right track,” another member of the delegation, Peter N. Myhre, informed the Liberian leader.

President Johnson Sirleaf thanked the parliamentarians for the visit, expressing delight that the delegation could come and get a firsthand account of Liberia’s progress and challenges.  The President welcomed the renewed partnership between Liberia and countries with which it has had a long standing relationship over the years.

The President informed the delegation that Liberia has come a long way in restoring basic services, credit worthiness, education facilities, and reducing debt, among others.  The country’s main focus now, the President said, is to improve natural resource investment. Unemployment, the Liberian leader said, continues to be one of the greatest challenges, but said she remains hopeful that as investment increases, the private sector would absorb disaffected youth.

The Liberian leader assured the Nordic parliamentarians that the fight against corruption remains firm as demonstrated by measures the Government has introduced to expose corruption, such as setting into motion the pillars of integrity, including the GAC, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the press and an active civil society.  The biggest shortcoming, she said, is Liberia’s judicial system in which efforts are continuing to improve its performance.

The President thanked Denmark, Norway and Sweden for supporting Liberia’s reform agenda, and assured them that with their continuous support, the country’s progress would be sustained.

The delegation has visited a number of centers including a Gender-based violence clinical center, a fistula project at the John F. Kennedy Memorial hospital, and a community empowerment program in Paynesville.  The delegation also toured Buchanan, in Grand Bassa County.

Norway is a major supporter of Liberia’s energy sector while Denmark has contributed more than USD$20 million to support Liberia’s MDG-3 program, which, among other things, targets the empowerment of women.