Chinese investors from Shandong Province are expected to visit Liberia shortly on an investment exploration mission, as part of efforts to strengthen ties between the two countries and boost investment.
Shandong Provincial leaders are also keen on taking the Liberia/China relationship further by establishing a sister city relationship between Monrovia and Shandong, Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung told journalists traveling with him in an interview on Wednesday, June 18, following a closed-door meeting with Chinese Provincial leaders.
Describing the meeting as fruitful and transactional, Vice President Koung said it falls in line with President Boakai’s agenda, and that agencies of government will follow up to ensure that the ideals of the meeting are realized.
The meeting with Governor Zhou Naixiang, who doubles as the Deputy Secretary of the CPC Shandong Province and other senior members of Shandong Province and the Governing CPC is part of side events on his physical verification tour of companies which have submitted unsolicited bids to supply the 285 pieces of earth-moving equipment badly needed by the Joseph Boakai regime for vigorous roads construction work in the country.
The other senior Shandong Provincial leaders in the meeting were Vice Governor Song Junji, Deputy Secretary of the CPC, Qingdao Municipal Committee and Mayor of Qingdao City, Ren Gang, Deputy Secretary-General and Director General of the General office of Shandong Provincial People Government, Sun Qisheng, Director General of Shandong Provincial State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and Chairman of Shandong Heavy Industry Group, Man Shengang.
The rest were Li Hong, Deputy Director-General of the Office of Foreign Affairs Committee of CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, and Zhang Qingwei, Deputy Director-General of Shandong Provincial Committee Department.
Vice President Koung was accompanied by Public Works Minister Roland Giddings, Liberia’s Ambassador to China, Amb. McKinley Thomas, PPCC Executive Director, Bodger Scott Johnson, Assistant Finance Minister for Budget, Sarah Mulbah, Robert Wilson, Deputy Director of GSA, Macdonald Metzger, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President, and Ephraim T. Teage Sr., Deputy Chief of Protocol.
According to Vice President Koung, Shandong Province has a lot of potential that Liberia can benefit from. He named energy and agriculture as some of the areas Liberia can tap into.
“We encouraged Chinese companies to invest in Liberia,” he said. “Qingdao is strong in Energy and Agriculture, and we can do more together after this visit.”
Vice President Koung said that during the meeting they discussed training for Liberian students in agriculture. He also mentioned that Governor Zhou spoke of trying to open opportunities for both countries and work on increasing the slots for Liberian students to study in Shandong Province.
Earlier, Vice President Koung and the delegation toured Shandong Port, where they saw a completely digitalized operation with minimum human involvement at the port.
Meanwhile, Vice President Koung and the delegation climaxed the day after attending the welcome banquet of the 6th Qingdao Multinationals Summit. He is expected to deliver the opening address today. -Reports Othello B. Garblah.
