Freetown, Sierra Leone – At the invitation of Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio, Liberia’s president Joseph Nyuma Boakai departed Monrovia on 18 November 2024, for a 4-day working visit and is expected to return to Liberia on 21 November 2024.
According to high-level reliable sources, while in Sierra Leone, President Boakai will engage in strategic discussions to strengthen bilateral relations and advance regional cooperation within the Mano River Union framework.
Presidential sources say Boakai’s visit reflects Liberia’s commitment to deepening partnerships and fostering economic, social, and political collaboration in the Mano River basin sub region of West Africa.
President Boakai’s delegation includes Foreign Minister Honorable Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah, Ph.D., Information Minister Honorable Jerolimek M. Piah, and Presidential Senior Advisor Dr. Augustine Konneh.
Others include National Security Advisor Samuel Kofi Woods, Director General of the Cabinet Nathaniel Kwabo and Economic Advisors Sahr Johnny and Morley Kamara. Members of the President’s media and communication team, as well as his personal staffers, are in the entourage.
Both Liberia and Sierra Leone are members of the Mano River Union (MRU), an international association initially established between Liberia and Sierra Leone by the 3 October 1973 Mano River Declaration.. Guinea joined the union on 25 October 1980
Named after the Mano River which begins in the Guinea highlands and forms a border between Liberia and Sierra Leone and on 15 May 2008, Cote d’Ivoire agreed to join the union.
The goal of the Union was and has been to “accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural advancement of the member countries by active collaboration and mutual assistance in matters of common interest in economic, social, technical, scientific and administrative fields”.
