IPNEWS: With more than half of Liberia’s children out of school and all but five percent of the country’s health centers flattened by war, former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf called on friendly governments of Liberia for an unconditional waiver of the country’s huge external debt to help it quickly recover from the war.

A donor conference was held bringing together financial experts that wound craft a new peacetime government pledged to continue on the path of economic reform, stressing that it was unable to pay back Liberia’s external debt arrears of US $3.5 billion.

“There is a need for a debt waiver for Liberia, and in order to do this the government must carry out a reform of its economic and monetary programs and constantly engage our international financial partners to assist us in putting together policies and programs that would qualify us for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiatives,” Finance Minister Antoinette Sayeh said.

Buttressing Liberia’s Finance Minister Antoinette Sayeh, World Bank official Matt Karlson said a waiver would entail proof of continuing economic reform.

“We have to look into arrears clearance, because the government cannot pay its debts, but in order to qualify, the government must continue the encouraging steps it has been taking in six months in office by strictly adhering to internationally acceptable benchmarks in its management of public funds,” Karlson said.

Former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf further stated that a waiver would enable her administration to fulfil its development agenda, including restoring basic social services such as schools, rehabilitation of damaged health facilities and repairing roads networks.

“With more than half of our children out of school spend a shortage of trained teachers, we intend to spend our time and resources in educational development,” Sirleaf said. “We also center situation of 95 percent of our 325 health centers totally or partially damaged by war and there are presently 34 doctors in the country out of 400 trained in the 1980s before the war.”

Sirleaf said that only 10 percent of the population of 3.4 million had access to health care and that the government’s immediate plan was to raise this to about 50 percent.

Seventeen years running, Liberia is headed to another debt relief.

Liberian Foreign Minister H.E. Amb. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr, is encouraging international and development financing partners of the Least Developed Countries and financial institutions to ensure comprehensive debt relief as an imperative option for debt distressed Least Developed Countries.

Foreign Minister Kemayah told participants at a recent Fifth United Nations Conference on the ‘Least Developed Countries’, in Doha, Qatar that such a move will engender the successful implementation of the Doha Program of Action.

Kemayah said the pathway to prosperity and development must begin with concrete actions within the framework of international cooperation and strategic partnerships, including scaled-up official development assistance and commitments; as well as access to development finance to boost the attainment of the six key areas of focus of the Doha Programme of Action and its full implementation.

The Dean of the Cabinet also stated that in the wake of increasing global challenges, the need for support and partnerships to accelerate the development agenda of the Least Developed Countries seems ever more compelling.

He said it is within this context that they have convened in Doha for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which was held under the theme, “From Potential to Prosperity,” in anticipation of building momentum to concretize commitments, support, and forge cooperation for the implementation of the Programme of Action, including its six priority areas for the next decade-2022-2031.

The Liberian Foreign Minister believes that the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) represents an instrument that can drive LDCs toward prosperity and development.

He however indicated that more than fifty (50) years since its inception, the development aspirations of LDCs continue to be stifled amidst multifaceted challenges.

“We are aware of challenges that hindered LDCs from meeting the ambitious 10-year policy agenda, set out in the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) to address the challenges faced by LDCs to overcome structural impediments required to eradicate poverty, achieve internationally agreed development goals, and ultimately, enable graduation from the LDC category”, Minister Kemayah further intoned.

The Liberian Chief Envoy asserted that lessons from the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) remind them that the goal of structural transformation to induce economic growth and poverty eradication still remains a pressing challenge in LDCs, stating that efforts of LDCs to implement their national development plans remain hindered by lack of adequate finance – both internally and externally.

He informed the conference that as part of efforts Resolved to lift the Liberian people out of poverty and create a conducive environment for the pursuit of national development, the Government of Liberia under the dynamic leadership of His Excellency President Dr. WEAH, upon assuming Office on January 22, 2018, launched a Five-year Flagship National Development Plan, known as the “Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD),” which represents the fullest expression of our shared determination to achieve peace, stability, development, democracy, prosperity, as well as to alleviate poverty, combat climate change and environmental degradation; and address the structural impediments, etc.

According to him, the Government of Liberia has continued to commit resources in critical sectors such as health, education, agriculture, and infrastructure for the transformation of Liberia and the Liberian people, which is also in line with the Doha Programme of Action, adding the need for the Government of Liberia and its development partners to coordinate resources in these critical areas cannot be overly emphasized.

He further stressed that his Government has initiated policies to tackle climate change, contain the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and build resilience, particularly toward socio-economic recovery.

“We have also initiated an Economic Recovery Plan, known as “Liberia Economic Recovery Plan” (LERP) to protect and promote economic recovery by minimizing revenue collapse arising from the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Amb. Kemayah stated that Liberia has also established policy frameworks and interventions to address the impacts of climate change and protect the environment, including the National Climate Change Policy and Response Strategy, the completion of the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the formulation of the First and Second National Biodiversity and Strategy Action Plans.

“We will continue to forge partnerships with our international, multilateral, bilateral, national, and local stakeholders to encourage new economic engagement; mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and future pandemics; strengthen regional and global health; promote food security; continue the advancement of peace, stability, development, democracy, prosperity, alleviation of poverty, good governance, rule of law, and constitutional order; and more so, to respond to the climate crisis; and address the structural impediments to economic growth and national development”, Minister Kemayah said.

Minister Kemayah also, on behalf of the Government and People of Liberia, expressed profound thanks and appreciation to Liberia’s international development partners as well as local partners for the continued support, which he said has impacted the implementation of the goals and targets of the SDGs, the country’s National Development Plan (PAPD); and ultimately, leading to the implementation of the Doha Program of Action.

The Liberian Foreign Minister assured the conference of Liberia’s fullest support and called for the adoption of the Doha Political Declaration as a further demonstration of its endorsement of the Doha Program of Action and its implementation plan at the highest level; as well as its renewed global partnership for sustainable and resilient development of the LDCs.