IPNEWS: On Monday, October 31, 2022, the Executive Mansion through an official press statement reported that President George Weah had been extended an invitation by the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, to attend and address the MEDays International Forum 14th Edition.
President Weah was invited and scheduled among 200 renowned speakers at this year’s Forum dubbed “the DAVOS of Africa” which kicked off on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, under the theme, “From Crises to Crisis: Towards a New World Order?” is expected to end on Saturday, November 5, 202,2 in the Moroccan City of Tangier.
The Liberia leader having departed the country to Morocco via Casablanca arrived in the Moroccan City of Tangier for the MEDays International Forum’s 14th Edition. President Weah arrived at the Ibn Battouta International Airport on the evening of Tuesday, November 1, 2022.
On Wednesday, November 2, 2022, President Weah addressed the MEDays International Forum’s 14th Edition.
President Weah Pushes Liberia’s Investment Case at MEDays Forum in Morocco
During his address, President Weah said he is “using one stone to kill two birds” on his Moroccan trip where he is not only making a powerful case to the world body on peace, pandemic, and international cooperation but also selling Liberia’s amiable investment opportunities in a bid to attract potential investors.
Addressing the MEDays Forum Wednesday, November 2, 2022, the Liberian President encouraged investors to utilize the virgin nature of Liberia’s investment climate to engage in profitable business ventures of mutual benefit.
“Our fertile soils are ready for mechanized agriculture that could enhance food security,” the President told an assembly of over 5000 delegates from over 140 countries. “The technology sector also remains untouched in most African countries, including Liberia.”
President Weah revealed that Liberia is specifically seeking investment in fiber-optic backbones that could strengthen the communication sector and give a further boost to the economy.
Liberia, President Weah assured the global business community, “is endowed with enormous potential to transform itself into a strong economic giant for all of its citizens and the world at large.
“Such potential, which includes maritime transport, air services, port development and expansion, development and exploration of the offshore minerals to include oil and gas, as well as solid minerals amongst others, could be realized through strong cooperation and joint venture initiatives with prospective investors.”
President Weah stressed that Liberia also encourages value-addition in all investment portfolios; as this will result into more sustainable job creation for our ever-growing youthful population.
He continued: “Liberia is also a member of various sub-regional bodies on the African continent, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).”
According to him, prospective investors in the Liberian economy will enjoy all of the benefits of Liberia’s membership in these organizations.
He told the gathering that the country is open to investment in a particular project, such as the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, which will connect Nigerian gas to every coastal country in West Africa, up to the Mediterranean shore.
“We are convinced that this large-scale energy project will immensely boost the region’s economic integration and benefit all the nations involved by unlocking their industrial potential and curbing their energy deficit,” he said further.
He thanked King Mohammed VI, King of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Government and people of Morocco for what he called “the very warm reception extended my delegation and me.”
The Liberian Leader expressed optimism that the participants will come out of the deliberations with strong and applicable action points that will take mankind on a guaranteed path to a more peaceful, secure, and stable world.
He said: “Liberia wishes to emphasize that this new, more operational and more mutually beneficial North-South cooperation; started by the Amadeus Institute more than a decade ago, will be the key to meeting our known challenges; as well as building greater autonomy and self-sufficiency to strengthen our resilience to external shocks.”
The Liberian Chief Executive is said to have had series of bilateral and multilateral meetings with his counterparts and business executives including the President of Cape Verde, King of Morocco and the President of the Amadeus Institute, organizer of MEDays International Forum.
The 14th Edition which ends tomorrow, Saturday which brought together over 5000 participants and has created an opportunity to discuss the main geopolitical, economic and social issues facing the planet, including conflicts and instability in Africa, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, food and energy crises, inflation, and climate change.
Participants include other African and world leaders, members of government, business leaders, investors, researchers, journalists and entrepreneurs from across the globe.
After two years of absence due to COVID-19 pandemic, the MEDays Forum is once again brought together a community of 230 speakers from 80 countries. Experts and observers of international relations are also attending the forum, bringing the number of participants to 5,000.
“The international order is changing,” the statement says. “The center of geopolitical gravity is moving due to the assertion of new powers, diversification of international partnerships and development aspirations of emerging countries, including those of the African continent.”
The recent crises were not supported enough by concrete multilateral responses and operations, and thus has been the focus of the exchanges of stakeholders, indicated the organizers in the statement.
Back to the SPOON Talk panelists and callers, they alleged that President Weah is scheduled to move on from Morocco to Egypt, France, and United States and as well as to Gulf nation of Qatar during the six weeks period the Liberian leader is expected to be out of the country.
What is of public record thus far apart from the Morocco’s trip is the President’s trip to the United States of America slated for mid-December this year, where he is expected to attend President Joe Biden-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC.
US President Joe Biden-Africa Leaders’ Summit – Washington DC, USA
On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States will bring together leaders from across the African continent for a major summit in December in Washington to discuss pressing challenges from food security to climate change.
“The summit will demonstrate the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa, and will underscore the importance of U.S.-Africa relations and increased cooperation on shared global priorities,” Biden said in a statement.
The U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, scheduled for Dec. 13-15, was announced simultaneously in virtual remarks by Vice President Kamala Harris to the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Marrakech hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa and the kingdom of Morocco and attended by a U.S. delegation.
A senior administration official, discussing the U.S.-Africa summit plans on condition of anonymity, said about 50 African leaders are expected to join Biden for the Dec. 13-15 series of meetings.
It will come at the end of a year when Biden has engaged other regions of the world with trips to visit U.S. allies in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Biden has yet to visit Africa since becoming president, and the summit will be his most comprehensive look at the complexities of the continent.
A backbeat of Biden’s diplomatic efforts thus far has been to promote Western democracies as a counterweight to China, but the official said the U.S.-Africa summit was not all about Beijing.
“We are not asking our African partners to choose,” the official told Reuters. “We believe the United States offers a better model, but we are not asking our African partners to choose.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development announced recently that it is providing nearly US$1.3 billion in aid to the Horn of Africa nations of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia to help stave off mass starvation and deaths in the drought-stricken region.
Biden said the summit will work toward new economic engagement, promote democracy and human rights, advance peace and security, and address challenges such as food security and climate change as well as the pandemic.
The president believes that U.S. collaboration with leaders from African governments, civil society, the private sector and the African diaspora will help tackle some of the challenges, the official said.
The Time Interval of the Tangier, Morocco MEDays Forum and Biden’s Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington
If what the SPOON Talk panelists, callers and some lawmakers have eluded to that President George Weah will be away from Liberia for about six weeks (one Month, two weeks), the question is what will the Liberian leader be doing abroad, and in what countries will he be, now the MEDays Forum 14th Edition ends tomorrow Saturday, November 5, 2022, while the Joe Biden Africa Leaders’ Summit takes place between December 13-15, 2022?
From November 5, 2022 end of The MEDays International Forum 14th Edition to December 13-15, December 2022 the time for the Biden Africa Leaders’ Summit, there are about 40 days in between. Technically, there are about 38 in between before the Biden-Africa Leaders’ Summit starts on December 13, 2022.
The Executive Mansion has not up to this point posted any official statement on its website whether President Weah will immediately return to Liberia tomorrow, Saturday November 5, 2022 from the Morocco]s Forum.
Opposition Bloc’s Claims and Assertions – Financial Burden on Liberia
It is apparently due to no official statement from the Executive Mansion or the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs & Tourism regarding when President Weah will return to Liberia with The MEDays International Forum 14th Edition ending tomorrow, November 5, 2022, that is why some opposition bloc members and lawmakers have claiming that the Liberian leader will be out of the country for six weeks, on what Mo Ali, former ruling Unity Party Secretary General, referred to as “Walkabout Spree” when he appeared on SPOON TALK as a panelist on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
Also during the show, the issue of how much the Government is expending for the upkeep of President Weah and traveling party that includes First Lady Clar Duncan Weah, out of Liberia for six weeks (one month, two weeks). It was also said that the President traveled on a private jet that he usually uses, despite the economic situation faced by Liberia.
It can be recalled a staff of the Central Bank of Liberia was summoned and investigated by the National Security Agency (NSA), after he was accused of leading documents to the public containing financial cost of President Weah’s first travel abroad after assuming the Liberian presidency.
Earlier on, some die-hard partisans of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), working in the employ of the Ministry of Information had posted on social media that that President Weah’s first international trip as president of Liberia was funded by the Senegalese government, after being extended an official invitation.
But surprisingly, a leaked document came to the public space that President Weah and delegation had been given a little over US$150,000 for the trip, a situation that sparked public outcry.
Fast forward to November 2022, there is again public concerns as well as those from the opposition bloc how much will it costs the Government of Liberia for President Weah and his delegation, who are expected to be out of country for six weeks (one month, two weeks) on what they called ‘walkabout spree’ despite the tough economic situation facing Liberia, as well as the political challenges that loom ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
The Ministry of Finance must provide public information in this regard, according to a political pundit.
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) – November 8, 2022
Out of curiosity, IPNEWS had to gone beyond to dig deeper as to whether President George Weah will actually visit Egypt during the month of November 2022 as was stated by panelists on the SPOON Talk show on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
IPNEWS was able to discover that one major international forums that takes place in the month of November in Egypt is the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) scheduled for Monday, 7 and ends on Tuesday, 8 November 2022.
The President of Egypt, Mr. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, has invited Heads of State and Government to participate in the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) that begins on Monday, 7 and ends on Tuesday, 8 November 2022.
The fact that the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, has reportedly invited Heads of State and Government to participate in the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) in his country, IPNEWS can deduce that Liberian president George Weah might most likely attend the Egypt Summit since he falls into the category of Heads of State and Government invited by the Egyptian president, though the Executive Mansion nor the Ministry of Information have not posted any official statement regarding the Liberia leader’s visit to Egypt in the month of November this year, since he is already in Morocco attending a Forum that ends tomorrow, Saturday, November 5, 2022.
The Fifth Edition of the Paris Peace Forum – November 11-12, 2022
Out of inquisitiveness, IPNEWS has also gone beyond to dig further as to whether President George Weah will actually visit France during the month of November 2022 as was stated by panelists on the SPOON Talk show on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
IPNEWS was able to discover that one major international fora that takes place in the month of November in France is the Fifth Edition of the Paris Peace Forum which will be held on 11-12 November 2022 at the Palais Brongniart and will focus on preserving global cooperation in times of war.
What is the Paris Peace Forum or Conference?
The Paris Peace Conference was an international meeting convened in January 1919 at Versailles just outside Paris. The purpose of the meeting was to establish the terms of the peace after World War. Though nearly thirty nations participated, the representatives of Great Britain, France, the United States, and Italy became known as the “Big Four.” The “Big Four” would dominate the proceedings that led to the formulation of the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that articulated the compromises reached at the conference. The Treaty of Versailles included a plan to form a League of Nations that would serve as an international forum and an international collective security arrangement. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was a strong advocate of the League as he believed it would prevent future wars.
Negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference were not always easy. Great Britain, France, and Italy fought together during the First World War as Allied Powers. The United States, entered the war in April 1917 as an Associated Power, and while it fought on the side of the Allies, it was not bound to honor pre-existing agreements between the Allied powers. These agreements tended to focus on postwar redistribution of territories. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson strongly opposed many of these arrangements, including Italian demands on the Adriatic. This often led to significant disagreements among the “Big Four.”
Riding out the Multi-crisis – A preview of the 5th edition of the Paris Peace Forum
In an era of emergency and uncertainty, the world is going through compounded and multifold crises, from worsening climate change, successive Covid-19 waves, and deepening inequalities to new and lasting geopolitical conflicts of global consequences. The stakes could not be higher.
The fight against global warming, race to reach the SDGs, efforts to strengthen health systems, economic cooperation as well as the common custody of global public goods or global commons had already taken a serious hit during the pandemic. Since Russia’s attack of Ukraine, much of the world has also been affected by the fallout of the conflict and the overall instability it brought about, from a new dramatic humanitarian crisis to surging inflation, grave food and energy insecurity worldwide, as well as economic and political disruptions.
Set to take place at the end of a particularly tumultuous year, the fifth edition of the Paris Peace Forum will focus on Riding out the multicrisis and preventing a destructive world polarization that would jeopardize the collective efforts on many critical challenges for humanity. It will also explore how to mitigate the multiple shocks and socio-economic aftermath of the crises by fostering a renewed cooperative world order and multilateralism. Finally, by putting forward transnational solutions, initiatives and debates, the Forum will show examples of resolve, resilience, solidarity and innovation from stakeholders of the North and South to address today’s most pressing issues in the midst of a volatile and fast-changing context.
The 2022 Paris Peace Forum will be as multi-actor as ever, convening representatives from states, international organizations, businesses, development banks to foundations and NGOs from around the world, meeting to turn solutions into concrete actions.
Among the key speakers at this year’s fifth edition, the organizers have announced the participation of: Sigrid van Aken, CEO of Novamedia/Postcode Lottery Group; Celso Amorim, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Brazil; Audrey Azoulay, General Director-UNESCO; David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) – 2020 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Nighat Dad, Member of the Facebook Independent Oversight Board, Executive Director, Digital Rights Foundation; Comfort Ero, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group; Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board, former CEO of Danone; Alberto Fernández, President of the Argentine Republic; Angel Gurría, Co-chair of the prefiguration group of the Observatory on Information and Democracy; Pascal Lamy, President, Paris Peace Forum, and Emmanuel Macron, President of France.
Other keynote speakers at the Paris Peace Forum slated for November 11-12 are: Carlo Monticelli, Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB); Nadia Murad, Founder, Nadia’s Initiative – 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Youssou Ndour, Artist, Former Minister of Culture of Senegal; Gustavo Petro, President of the Republic of Colombia; H.E. Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission; Trisha Shetty
Founder – SheSays; Brad Smith, President – Microsoft; Gayle E. Smith, CEO of ONE – Former Administrator of USAID; Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); Mark Thompson, Co-chair of the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) and Huiyao (Henry) Wang, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization.
There is no African leader invited to the Paris Peace Forum slated for November 11-12, 2022 according to list pronounced by the organizers as stated above.
However, IPNEWS was unable to gather whether there will be other internationally acclaimed conferences or programs in the month of November 2022 in France, thus bringing to mind if whether the Liberian president George Weah will actually visit France in November as alleged by SPOON Talk panelists on Wednesday night.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ – A Global Event
In 2010, the world football governing body, FIFA voted to award the hosting rights of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. The country would become the first in the Middle East to host the world’s biggest sporting event, beating stiff competition from the United States and Australia.
Chief Executive Officer, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Mr. Nasser Al Khater, said: “Qatar is ready to welcome the world and host a unique edition of the FIFA World Cup – the first to take place in the Middle East and Arab world. Fans can expect top-class international football and a vast array of entertainment options.”
Due to Qatar’s intense summer heat, this World Cup will be held from late-November to mid-December, making it the first tournament not to be held in May, June, or July and to take place in the northern autumn; it will be played in a reduced timeframe of around 29 days.
The 32 countries qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are Qatar (Hosts), Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, The Netherlands, Uruguay, Croatia, Denmark, Mexico, the United States, Senegal, Wales, Poland, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Switzerland, Ghana, Korea Republic, Cameroon, Serbia, …
A total of 64 games will be played to decide the winners of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
IPNEWS has gathered that the most internationally acclaimed activity that takes in the Months of November and December in the Gulf nation of Qatar is the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. However, it is unclear whether President George Weah will travel to Qatar during this period as was claimed by some Panelists and callers on the SPOON Talk show on Wednesday night.
According to one of the panelists, President Weah will travel to Qatar during his six months out-of-country stay abroad to give parental support to his son, Timothy Weah, he and First Lady Clar Weah biological offspring, as he is expected to feature for his country of birth, the United States in the FIFA World Qatar 2022.
Timothy Weah currently plies his professional football in Lille, France, playing the city team Lille, which he helped to the win the French League 1 title two seasons ago. Timothy was born in New York, to a Liberian father – George Weah and a Jamaican-born US citizen, Clar Duncan Weah, now First Lady of Liberia. Currently, the President and the First Lady are in Morocco attending the MEDays International Forum’s 14th Edition which ends on tomorrow, Saturday, November 5, 2022.
Some of the panelists on SPOON Talk and other callers said President Weah will travel to Qatar to support his son, Timothy, as he plays for the United States in the World Cup, while back home, there is a looming crisis regarding the undecided conduct of the National Census, where enumerators Liberia Statistics & Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) throughout the country demonstrate daily on allegation of their training fees as well as the omission of trained enumerators and replacement by the ruling party partisans.
However, the Executive Mansion and Ministry of Information up to press time failed to provide clarity following an inquest through Deputy Information Minister for Press and Public Affairs, Jarlawah A. Tonpo and Presidential Press Secretary, I. Solo Kelgbeh, regarding the claims made by some members of the opposition bloc that President Weah has gone on a six weeks ‘walkabout spree’ while there are looming crisis regarding the pending National Census.
