The President of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, extends her compliments to the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and wishes that the deliberations during the 31st Session of the Governing Council will be successful.

President Sirleaf also wants me to congratulate the Executive Board, the Council and the staff of IFAD on this thirtieth anniversary of the Fund’s founding and to remind you that your mission of enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty could not be more pressing and urgent than today.

The President wants me to convey to the Governing Council the commitment of her government to the restoration of normal relations with IFAD and to holding consultations on the most appropriate strategy for settling Liberia’s arrears. We crave your understanding during these upcoming discussions for the political instability and civil conflicts that engulfed our country over the last two decades and resulted in economic collapse and rendered Liberia a failed state.

• GDP fell 90 per cent between 1987 and 1995, and at a time of elections in 2005, GDP per capita or average income was just one-quarter of what it had been in 1987 and only one-sixth of its 1979 level.
• Our economic collapse was also worst among conflict-ridden countries in Africa in the last 30 years, worse than the economic declines experienced by Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

Despite the doubling of revenue since the new government took office two years ago, Liberia’s $200 million national budget today is less than what it was 50 years ago.

Thanks to the vision, leadership and commitment of President Sirleaf, we are taking significant steps to reverse the image of Liberia as a failed state.

We are on course to be relieved of our per cent exports.

And we have put into place a comprehensive national reconstruction and development framework to consolidate peace and enhance national security, revitalize the economy, rehabilitate infrastructure and deliver basic services, and strengthen governance and the rule of law.

This four-pillar framework underpins the three-year Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) that we will implement in April, 2008.

Liberia faces a range of challenges including dilapidated infrastructure, poor education and health systems, high unemployment, inadequate professional capacity, and weak governance systems that could make it difficult for us to achieve the rapid, equitable and inclusive economic and political structures, generating opportunities for historically marginalized groups, and widely sharing the benefits of growth and development.

The growth of Liberia rests on natural resource-based industries that have the potential to create a significant number of jobs, provide substantial budget revenues, and initiate rapid growth. Agriculture has been identified as the leading sector in this strategy because it can create employment and income opportunities, and enhance food security.

Significant resources must soon be obtained, however, to increase productivity, stimulate markets and rebuild appropriate institutions if the PRS goal of 6 per cent expansion in total agricultural production by the end of 2010 is to be achieved.

IFAD and Liberia’s other developing partners can assist Liberia at this time of need by providing resources that will:

• Develop more competitive, efficient and sustainable food and agriculture value chains and linkages to markets
• Improve food security and nutrition
• Strengthen human and institutional capacity.

Key interventions that will help Liberia achieve these strategic objectives in the next three years include:

• Provision of essential public infrastructure, capacity support and targeted inputs
• Establishment of a conducive and enabling environment for private investment
• Increased production of rice, cassava and vegetables
• Promotion of essential nutrition actions
• Strengthening of the Ministry of Agriculture and related institutions, and
• Strengthening of farmers’ organizations with particular emphasis on women and youth.

Revitalizing the agricultural sector is vital to overall economic recovery, ensuring that growth is equitable and inclusive, maintaining peace and stability, and sustaining poverty reduction in Liberia. It is particularly important for the over 70 per cent of our people, mostly rural dwellers, who obtain their livelihood from agriculture, a must for over 80 per cent who are food insecure, and the only lifeline for the 50 per cent who languish in extreme poverty, subsisting on less than $1 per day.

I want to thank this organization for contributing to our recently-completed comprehension assessment of the agriculture sector, and I want to assure you that the Government of Liberia will work with you in the formulation and implementation of an appropriate arrears settlement package.

Meanwhile, we ask that you work with us to identify immediate assistance that can be provided to Liberia while we resolve these outstanding financial obligations. Time is not on our side, for the history of conflict-ridden societies demonstrates that a return to conflict in a few years is imminent whenever conflict-sensitive growth and development are delayed.

We are confident that you will enhance your strategic partnership with the people of Liberia as our country transitions from war to peace, and from emergency and recovery to growth and development.

We look forward to working together to overcome poverty.

Thank you.