 Good afternoon and welcome to the United States Institute of Peace a special welcome to those of those joining us by live webcast My name is Raymond Gilpin. I lead the Institute Institute to work on economics. I Have two quick announcements First during the question-answer session We'll be taking questions by cue cards And so please write your questions on the MQ cards We have provided and after our distinguished guests remarks we will collect them and pose as many to her as time permits and Those joining us by webcast you could send your questions via email or Twitter Details are available on our website Second I'll ask you all to join me particularly you in the auditorium to join me in the silencing of the cell phone ceremony It's as a courtesy to our distinguished guests and others and also because the cell phones interfere with our avi equipment So if it rings buzzes the beeps or sings Let's use this take this opportunity to switch them off Thank you very much for that now it gives me great pleasure to introduce our executive vice president Tara Son and shine who would offer some opening remarks Please welcome Thank you so much Raymond for your leadership of our conflict and sustainable Economies work. You are truly our peace Economist and every country and institution should have one I want to acknowledge the presence here today of the Liberian delegation traveling with the president and Also to welcome the ambassador Liberia's ambassador to Washington. I'd like to welcome Johnny Carson the assistant secretary of state for Africa and a special welcome to to general Carter Hamm Commander of AFRICOM would you join me in welcoming them today? I'm delighted that the US Institute of Peace Board members are here Kerry Kennedy George moose Chet Crocker whom you'll be hearing from in a moment. We have great crowd here a crowd up above a crowd Unfortunately in the overflow room, I guess we need a bigger building and crowds online everywhere the United States Institute of Peace is deeply and passionately committed to Liberia's steady growth and development to its overall stability and to conflict resolution on the continent in 2008 we supported the development of Liberia's national law reform Commission in Collaboration with Liberian researchers and George Washington University in 2010 we conducted research on perceptions of justice in Liberia which resulted in a major publication in April 2010 we co-sponsored Liberia's national Conference on enhancing access to justice the opening address was given by President Johnson-Cerleaf and We are now working at the Institute on a national action plan Which the State Department is committed to developing a US national action plan on gender and Conflict and we are very proud to know that Liberia is one of the nations that has an action National action plan and so America is modeling itself in part on you So there are many great connections and bridges and we are very fortunate today to have as the Introducer of our special guest a man who knows her well Ambassador Crocker served in just the position of Assistant Secretary of State that Johnny Carson holds for Africa Chet Crocker mediated many disputes in Africa has worked in this area for a very very long time And we are proud that he's a member of the board Professor at Georgetown University author of many books and I am really honored to introduce Ambassador Chet Crocker Madam President distinguished members of the visiting Liberian delegation and We've recognized many other important personages that were here with us today But Madam President it is a great honor for me to have the opportunity to say a few words About you you don't really need an introduction in fact, but I'm going to give you one anyway You bring to our forum such a remarkable wealth of experience as a private banker as an international civil servant as The presidential contestant during the really bad years as a political prisoner as a political exile as a venture capitalist as a founder of women's movements in your country and in the region and Now as president of your country for five years On a personal level having served with you on an advisory board in a private equity Organization, I know that you asked the toughest questions of an investment proposal that I've ever heard two of my former students have had the pleasure of Serving in your administration and confirmed that the challenge of working under your standards are higher than the standards Received at Georgetown University and that's saying something for a professor at Georgetown University over 250,000 people lost their lives during the traumatic 14 years of the Liberian civil war in the country was nearly destroyed the story of Liberia since 2003 and especially since your inauguration in 2006 is a story of a dramatic Dramatic turnaround sure there are still problems, but under your leadership madam president so much has been accomplished the return of stability The attraction of very substantial foreign investment GDP growth that would be the envy of the Obama administration Improved living standards an impressive start to recovery of educational Legal and security institutions major infrastructure projects. I could go on, but I'm not actually running your campaign and so I I don't think I will go on of course so much remains to be done And we are all aware that Liberia exists in a tough neighborhood and that you have to think about your region as well as your country Madam president ladies and gentlemen the 21st century is young, but I believe that when the history of the century is written That the story of Liberia will go down as a a very fine moment in Africa's modern history And you are a central person in that story your courage and facing down those who would try to rule by Physical intimidation to gain power and to hold power is a story that sends a powerful signal of hope To civilian leaders all over the continent your success in organizing women activists to campaign Democratically for for office is a metaphor for the emergence of women leaders in a region Which sorely needs them and your vision of institutionalizing democratic governance In Africa is an inspiration to all of us Could I ask you to please join me in welcoming President Ellen Johnson sir leave to the podium? Thank you chat for that Introduction executive vice president Taras on the shine other members of the board Chat again Krocker carry Kennedy secretary Carlson Distinguished guests participants Friends as so many of you are good friends whom we have known for many years. I Want to thank you Dr. Raymond Gilpin Richard Solomon Ambassador Krocker and the staff of the United States Institute for Peace for affording me this opportunity to talk to you About Liberia its progress its challenges I've come to Washington to Meet the new leadership of of Congress Republicans and Democrats Reinforce the by pat by partisan Support that our country has enjoyed over the years And we spent a lot of time these last two days on the hill Trying to be strong advocates for our country and the continuation of support in what we know difficult times we are mindful of the Continuing priorities competing priorities in the world and the challenges in your own homeland with high unemployment and a sluggish economy in this environment and on behalf of the Liberian people is Incoming upon us to inform you to inform the US congressional leaders of How well your scarce resources have been put to work in our country Liberia has risen from the ashes of war and destruction To become an emergent democratic nation with the potential to lift itself Out of a dire situation in What is really a volatiles of region in 2003 many of you in this room may recall Congress the US Congress supported a 200 million contribution to Liberia's transition Providing for the stabilization force of the United Nations mission in Liberia this came right after the war It again, it was your Congress that appropriated the funds to support Liberia's democratic elections in 2005 an election that made history in Electing mean president of Liberia Becoming the first woman in Liberia and in Africa To be able to hold that position Over the past years as the House and Senate change hands We've been fortunate That support to Liberia has been sustained and we know that so many of you in this room Have contributed to ensuring that this support has remained in place Given such strong support my message in meetings with the Congress was first and foremost To say a big thank you to them and through them to you the American people For playing such a leadership role in encouraging us To be able to take the stand that we have and In encouraging other partnership countries to join us in Supporting the agenda that has led us to this place of progress In advocating for strong partnership between our two nations. I also made the case For continued US assistance to sub-Saharan Africa Africa has indeed come a long way From those days of depressed economies autocratic rule today 17 countries are considered emerging nations Have it having put in place strong economic policies having sustained long years of economic reform political reform That have enabled them to reach this level. Liberia is not yet an emerging country But we consider a threshold one meaning we are on the way to becoming one what what we hope Will be just a few years Liberia is eight years Into what we see as a two decade of progress of recovery and development In the last in the past eight years We have cleared some significant hurdles But the challenges that lie ahead Are perhaps the most important ones to tackle They include building the institutions of government of civil society And building a private economy That will provide for future generations When I came into office five years ago We met a country That was completely destroyed And in need of complete reconstruction Of both the state And the society Post-war reconstruction in Liberia Is all-encompassing For it involves The economy security basic services governance national status And national healing Economically our problems started decades earlier Our gross domestic product was in steady decline Since 1979 Went into free fall when the war broke out By 1989 by 1995 it had fallen By 90 percent One of the fastest drop In history By the elections in 2005 Average income was a quarter of what it had been In 1987 and one sixth Of the 1979 level Years of mismanagement Excessive borrowing Spending and payment defaults Left a colossal external debt Amounting to 800 percent Of GDP While these statistics are themselves Disturbing they pale When compared to the more profound challenges Including the loss of lives livelihoods And human dignity During the years of violence more than 250,000 people were killed And over 500,000 were forced to flee their country And their homes Either as refugees Or internally displaced persons Families were shattered Communities uprooted Governance systems destroyed Commercial and productive activities collapsed Infrastructure devastated Our human infrastructure was in ruins Just to give you a small example We went from 800 practice in doctors in 1989 To just 50 By the year 2003 Our best and brightest across all professions Had left the country For our government the scope and scale Of the challenges facing Liberia Could easily have been paralyzing But we tried not to be that We executed a 150 day plan Quickly followed by an interim poverty reduction strategy These measures gave us a breathing space That we needed to take on fundamental reforms In 2008 when we wrote our poverty reduction strategy We regrouped our tasks into four pillars Peace and security Economic revitalization Infrastructure and basic services Governance and the rule of law It is through the hard work Of the Liberian people That I can now stand before you today And say that our progress And the lessons we've learned along the way Have got us to where we are today Our immediate challenge was peace and security As in the case with countries emerging from decades of civil war We risked a return to violence Rebel armies Armed groups Former military soldiers Needed to be vested in the democracy dividend On the other side of the equation We had no functioning army or police And the thousands of combatants Yet to be demobilized, disarmed and reintegrated The presence of the United Nations mission in Liberia In the immediate post war period Was essential and necessary to Liberia's recovery As it provided us a guarantee of safety for our people One of the first lessons from the Liberian experience Is that outside intervention Including military intervention Can be critical to a plan of national stabilization As Unmil is reducing his presence in Liberia We have made strides in providing for our own security Including developing a new professionally trained army Of 2,000 persons We know we have more to do But we feel that we've taken the necessary first step We know we need to further train and expand our military And develop a police capacity To deal with low level crime And disorder that disrupts people's quality of life And their sense of security In the long term The police and the judicial reforms Are keys not only to stability But to the success of plans of our poverty reduction strategy Our next challenge in revitalizing the economy And I'm proud to say that we've been very successful On that front Liberia key had an external debt Of some 4.9 billion A national budget of 80 million Per capita GDP of 160 dollars Today we have raised the national budget To close to 370 million Attracted over 16 billion in direct foreign investment And retired The bulk of that 4.9 billion debt Our income per capita has risen by approximately one third And despite the 2009 global financial crisis We have been able to have a GDP that has averaged 6.5 percent And brought our inflation rate down from 20 percent Into single digit digits We're proud that today Liberia has classified one of the 20 fastest growing economies in the world And by the World Bank rated in 2010 The World Bank doing business One of the 10 reformers The attraction of private capital And return of confidence to the private marketplace Is to us the truest sign of recovery of a nation Among the multinational companies that have already committed to invest billions in Liberia Include from your country Delta Airlines which has resumed flights Increasing it now from one to three flights a week Chevron which has recently opened offices in Liberia And will be starting offshore drilling By the end of this year Asselot Motel Not an American firm, but one of the oldest ones Which have started to reopen the mines And of course Firestone The one that has been with us for some 80 years Involving replanting and have completely changed The workplace On the plantation So today One can see that No longer will Firestone think we put a quote by the AFL CIO for the mistreatment of workers The achievement we are probably most proud of is our debt relief We've been able to do this by relentlessly pursuing Sound public financial management On a three-year program Assisted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Of course all of these will remain empty facts and statistics If collectively They do not create the jobs for the Liberian people Unemployment thus Is one of our biggest challenge And a priority of our government Employment for the thousands and thousands of young people Many of whom were child soldiers Who did not have the opportunity to go to school Or to get a skill What we need to do Is to find a way to make them Interproductive participants In the economy And that's not an easy task When you're dealing with 15 to 20 year olds Who have not had an opportunity To be able to become professionals Or to be able to make a contribution to their country's rebuilding We know that relying on our natural wealth That foreign investment alone will not create jobs We need to go one step beyond Beyond our own traditional experience And the experience of many of our African country We need more value added More labor intensive industry More small businesses More vocational training And a sustained and renewed effort To raise the educational standards For all of our citizens Our third challenge, governance and the rule of law The war destroyed all the institutions and infrastructure That protected these principles Thus we had to rehabilitate and promote freedom of speech An essential right Protected by a free and independent media As well as an open and just court system Decades of deprivation And bad governance eroded the norms and value system in our country And created a culture of corruption And rent seeking behavior Battling corruption Is at its core A battle of ideas A battle of values A battle of attitudes We have been trying To take a approach That's both systemic and preventive And we have made progress We sought to strengthen the principles of transparency So that Liberia became the first country in West Africa To pass its Freedom of Information Act As well as the first country to become fully compliant With the Executive Industry Transparency Initiative We sought to strengthen the principle of fairness and professionalism By increasing compensation To reduce the incentive for corruption and grafts We sought to strengthen the principles of accountability By restructuring and strengthening our General Auditing Commission And establishing the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission As a result of our action We moved up 41 places On Transparency International Global Corruption Index And more recently Up another 10 points Moving from 97 to 87 Equally significant For our strong and young government We qualified As a threshold country On the Millennium Challenge Account And have made our first export Under AGOA Despite these advances Much more needs to be done And we are very mindful of that The punishment aspect of fighting corruption remains a missing link And while the challenge is enormous We'll default our energy in the coming months To tackling this malaise We are in the process of reforming the judiciary Reviewing our jury system And looking at the prosecuting powers Of our institutes of integrity The fourth pillar of our recovery Is building infrastructure and restoring basic services of government Liberia emerged from the years of war With almost nonexisting infrastructure And we set out on a long and grueling process Of rebuilding key infrastructure virtually from scratch I'm proud to report that we started to Rebuild roads Bridges Schools Clinics Restored lights And water All missing in the capital city for decades It was so pleasing to us When we turned on the first street lights That children danced And they could study Under the street lights lacking the lights in their homes That those who for the first time Not knowing that water came out of anything but a bucket Could see running water coming out of the taps Those are the things that you take for granted Things that are missing And when restored Can make a remarkable change In the life of a child We will be moving in that direction As we try to Restore more of those services And the rehabilitation of our hydro plan Remained for us One of the most challenging And most required Attention As it represents the major constraints To enhancement of our security efforts And to enable us to move from the export of primary Products to adding value That makes us an agro-industrial state Finally, we had to address the communities Still traumatized Our national spirit Our national identity Our communal trust Had been undermined At the beginning Our partners assisted us In undertaking the huge process of disarming, demobilizing And reintegrating thousands of our young people While training and education bypass them Restruction and recovery alone can only go so far We need to grow our economy To create a new and fairer distribution of wealth With equal and sufficient access to opportunity by all Only then Can we address the realities of poverty exacerbated by 14 years of war Our process of national healing and reconciliation Is not a perfect Nor complete But we are convinced that we've made the necessary first step In this long journey Our young people Are ready and are embracing the return to school Return to training Return to productive endeavor And return to peace Our progress depends on the system Which has shows the peaceful transfer of power Through the exercise of choice The institutionalization of democracy That is why this year Our national election year Is critical to our recovery A poster test All the work we have done To create a strong society An open society A democratic society The national contest will test Our democratic principles Our multiparty system And our independent judiciary Without these There's no sustainable progress In a post-conflict country I stand before you As the leader of a country No longer looking for handouts But rather A nation in such Of true partnership As I stated earlier And emphatically We came to Washington to make the case For sustain foreign assistance to Liberia We are not seeking An open-ended commitment But rather A sport In the next few years of this transition If it happens I'm confident And I've made the commitment That Liberia Will sustain its own development We shall not act for foreign assistance in 10 years I can go further to say that as we develop our long-term perspective In our development agenda That Liberia is determined To join the ranks of middle-income countries By the year 2030 I won't be around to see it But I'm confident I would have put in place All of the All of that it takes To make sure that there's no reversal And make sure that we will achieve that objective At a time when you You in the United States Are debating the future Of your foreign assistance program I hope We have made a case for Liberia And a case for Liberia's future I want to show you That the aid that has been given to Liberia today Has been put to effective use We could not have achieved the progress we had On the basis of the resources with which we started And it was the supplementary ones that you gave Both technical, moral and financial That has enabled us To achieve what we have Dear friends Liberia is moving to the next phase Of development From stabilization To sustained economic growth This means responsibly And transparently harnessing our abundant natural resources While at the same time cultivating New natures in manufacturing and services This means investing In our most important assets The Liberian people It also means building upon the gains we have made In rebuilding our infrastructure And in further reforming governance And the promotion and respect For fundamental and human rights Under the root of law In Liberia as elsewhere in Africa Our gains are fragile Our institutions must be rebuilt and reformed And sustained Through the shifting winds of politics And the dynamics of change The situation which resolutely pertained In our neighboring state, Côte d'Ivoire Served as a reminder of how easily It is for a country to slip back into violence And how quickly the hard-earned progress Can be turned back For Liberia's part We continue to cope with 150,000 refugees From Côte d'Ivoire As well as mercenaries who continue to work And continue to move through our poorest borders We continue to work with our neighboring states With which we enjoy the best of relations As we collectively try to ensure that peace And stability maintains in our sub-region Our successes are not merely our own But the product of hard work By the Liberian people And our friends abroad Such as you in this room It is our strong belief that Liberia will hit its benchmarks For development and national rebirth And that the lessons learned from our experience Can be applied to our world in transition Liberia is in business Liberia is on a move Thank you Thank you very much, Madam President, for that very comprehensive overview It's very heartening to see and hear all the progress that has been made But we also note that you pointed out some of the challenges that lie ahead This is the fun part And if you've written a question, please pass it down the aisle And if you're in the overflow room, do likewise And the questions would make their way to the front And we'll pose as many to the President as we could And while that's going on, use my prerogative as a moderator to ask the first question And you mentioned significant gains in terms of economic growth But also challenges regarding distribution of wealth Could you comment on that in the context of the lingering conflict dynamics In Liberia and countries like Liberia How do you make sure that the economic growth Translates into human security for the bulk of the people We've chosen, first of all, to promote growth But we also know that the distribution of wealth is very skewered in our country You still have a small segment of the population That enjoys a higher share of the income And at the bottom, very low per capita income Our way to address that is through education Skills training, to enable people To be able to become professionals, to earn higher income To bring basic services to them To ensure that there's food security by promoting agriculture And we're beginning to see the change But it will take some time to get the kind of equal distribution that one would like to see As we begin to move the lower segment of the population The larger numbers of the population Of the income ladder Thank you You mentioned that education is very important And we have a question here from 10-year-old Zoe Denton And who wants to know what would you do to encourage children from Liberia That live in America, help children in Liberia You know, I think you could send a note to a child You know, we can identify some, a little note Encouraging them to go to school, to stay in school A discarded book that you may want to share with a child across the ocean Would be helpful And certainly when we go back and I meet the children, as I always do I will carry those messages from the children from here That says that they're placed with the fact that they're going to school And they're studying hard And they're back in uniforms And I think that's going to be encouraging to them Thank you very much There are a couple of questions here about security, security sector reform And what in particular highlights the United Nations military mission Observing mission in Liberia, on mill And the question is, what do you see as the future of on milling in Liberia And do you think that it should over time draw down and how quickly should that happen We have a draw down plan that's been agreed And the draw down had started It's stable now at about 8,000 persons We expect that number to remain For the next couple of years at least as we get past the elections But the ultimate test of security is when on mill does leave And at some point they should leave That will be the visa signal that the country is secured And the country is stable And that our own security forces take prime responsibility for the security of the state And so we're working toward achieving that objective within two to three years Thank you very much And also if you're joining us by webcast, please send your questions via twitter or email Details are available on our website Still on security, Madam President And there are two questions here about the implications of what's going on in Côte d'Ivoire And stability in Côte d'Ivoire in Liberia You mentioned the number of refugees and the porosity of the borders Is there a strategy in place to address this over the long term And what are your views about sub-regional security prospects in the years ahead The refugee problem has two dimensions Humanitarian aid Our own villages have welcomed the refugees And to a certain extent integrated them into their society The response from the international community is slower than we'd anticipated But we're trying our best to cope with that The security aspect has to do with cross-border movements Many of those come from the same ethnic groups across the border They come back armed It could represent a risk to our sub-region A risk to Liberia or a risk to Côte d'Ivoire If they're returning ex-mercenaries with arms Decide to regroup and to try to destabilize It's a problem for us Our response is to increase the security on the borders Including some of the peacekeeping forces that are there Not enough to be able to cover, like you said, Borus forest forest areas where people can hide so easily But we're trying our best to cope with it And trying to be as vigilant as we can And we're cooperating The leaders in all of our countries are cooperating In exchanging intelligence And making sure that we all step up and enhance our surveillance action Thank you very much Is there a particular role the international community could play in this regard? Because history tells us that these security concerns Could become sub-regional very quickly And affect a lot more countries even beyond Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire I'll use the same phrase that many of you are familiar with Reduce the time from commitment to cash Thank you, I think that's sage advice from a policy perspective And there are a number of questions about the Liberia's natural resources You have a very ambitious and I think realistic program To make sure that in 10 years Liberia does not require foreign assistance And this suggests that the natural resources will be not just Adding to economic growth but also supporting Broad-based economic development across Liberia Could you speak about that in a bit more detail About the role of natural resources and the environment in Liberia's future? As I mentioned Liberia is natural resource rich We have a relatively small population If we can use those resources properly Allocate them efficiently And address the basic needs of the people Infrastructure needs Social infrastructure Economic infrastructure There should be no reason why we would do that What are the resources we have? We have mineral resources R&O Gold Diamond And agriculture resources We're still an agrarian nation Most of our people are in farming We have both in terms of food security We should address some of the needs of the poor As well as in export agriculture Where rubber, oil, palm, coffee, cocoa are all traditional products for us We have forestry resources Liberia commands 45% of the biodiversity in West Africa The sanctions helped us in a way because our forests were not cut So but we also know when it comes to forestry that we're a part Of the global effort to address climate change And we know that unless we could be a part of conserving our forests That we could become part of the problem with greenhouse gases So we have a program that we say the three C's Commercialization Conservation And community benefits to ensure that the communities to benefit From the exploitation of those resources We have fishery potential in ocean nation So our challenge is to make sure that As we exploit those resources and petroleum is now looking good I don't think Chevron will be there Or Chevron if it didn't look good But we also insist that those that have been granted Exploitation rights have corporate social responsibility That they must do in the communities in which they operate They must give back something Roads, schools, medical services, training And I must say that they are doing that So that's how we make sure that the resources of the country Will be able to be distributed in such a way that it will lift our people And thank you There are three questions here that relate to your comment on Unemployment being one of the biggest challenges you face And looking at the demographics it's primarily youth unemployment What plans do you have to address youth unemployment And how would this ensure an intergenerational transfer of knowledge and skills It's a problem we think skills training Is the best for those who are able to who are young enough To go back to school we've encouraged that In those cases where young adults cannot go back to basic academic training We're trying to rehabilitate our vocational institutions and get new ones To be able to give them a skills Small enterprises, our central bank is putting facility out to help them to become To do small things, trading, farming I was just saying there's a great industry that has started with public transport and motorcycles Most of the ex-combatants now they have an association of motorcyclists And for them it's a great industry, I mean they go on the secondary roads And they transport people, they transport produce And for them so what can we do now is to give them better skills better training Better protection as they carry out that service So we're trying to identify the means whereby they can become productive And that we hope will solve some of the employment problem We also have questions relating to the transferability of the Liberian experience Both in terms of the democratic, consolidating the democratic process And revitalizing economic growth And a couple of other African countries have been mentioned And saying what could they learn from Liberia's experience And how transferable is it for other conflict affected countries in Africa We hope that there are certain elements of transferability For example Somalia sent a team to Liberia to talk about post-conflict What are some of the measures we did in our economic policy, our 150-day deliverables And they had good exchanges with the relevant authorities in the government We hope that they'll be able to learn from some of those lessons of experience We're still learning from others too We think countries like Rwanda and Ghana and others have Important lessons that we can learn and we can pattern ourselves after There's some innovations that we have that many countries are now looking at For example our approach to philanthropy We establish a philanthropic secretariat where we bring them all together Rather than each philanthropic organization doing its own thing Across the country reflecting its own priorities and policies Where we bring them together and decide on activities in which They can pool resources and then have a scaling up In important activities and we guide that That's a process that's being looked at by other countries So we hope some of our lessons will be applicable to other circumstances in countries Thank you very much It's no secret that you are an inspiration to women everywhere And so it's no surprise that we have It's no surprise that we have at least three or four questions On the national response to gender-based societal issues in Liberia Could you speak a bit more about the national action plan And what practical steps are being taken to Convert discrimination at national, local and community levels in Liberia Well, when it comes to discrimination, I think I'm the best example So, but what we have done in our national plan really Is to address sexual-based violence Gender-based violence that's in our society We've established a special court to be able to deal with With violence against women We've established special units in our ministry of gender to do to deal with that Rape is a problem in our society And we're trying to address that through our women groups Our national plan of action is to ensure that our laws and our policies Have no elements of discrimination in them And so and we have women groups that are supported For this association of women lawyers To to be able to work, you know with with the special courts So but you know like every other country we still don't have full equality We I try to I thought very seriously about an all-woman cabinet I Haven't quite achieved that yet Thank you very much a couple of questions Madam President on your meetings in Capitol Hill And one question says what message would you have for the average U.S. taxpayer Who is concerned about the effectiveness of foreign assistance in conflict affected countries like Liberia Your taxpayer should know that Your money has been spent to bring peace stability And to set a country on the course for development In such a way That it will graduate from assistance We say Liberia Is on the way to becoming a post-conflict success story And that success is not only Liberia success It is also the United States success because you've been out number one part Madam President one of your legacies would be the consolidation of democratic institutions in Liberia With elections upcoming there's one question about The strength of the institutions to sustain this momentum Could you speak a bit about the electoral process and electoral institutions and what is being done to ensure that there is smooth Transition or a process in the upcoming elections For one thing we've invited a strong partnership among all our by natural partners in working with our elections commission to ensure that they're properly capacitated To ensure that their processes will ensure transparency free and fair elections We have a multipartist system. We have a civil society that is very very assertive aggressive and participating in every way in our society We have a media That is open. We we won the prize like we are won the prize for freedoms for media freedoms And so that in itself forces accountability and forces transparency And we've invited our partners not to see our elections as a one week or one day event But to be a part of the process So that we can benefit from the experience of others that have had good elections and so We're hoping but you know politics are politics. So You gonna there's a lot of verbal battles going on We hope it remained verbal But I think we're looking forward to we've had an elections commission that has That has run many by elections And those by elections if anyone wants to see Have been if you look at the results it shows that there were fairness in it because there's no ruling party that won the by elections We lost the 50 percent of them So but We we welcome where we're looking at some Some innovative things that happen in places like the recent Nigeria elections where cell phones became The mode the the main instrument for fairness to make sure that people knew results Before official results or results were Translated by cell phones to to different people. So the tally could be compared with the official Just could be prepared with the with the private results And we're we're going to try to to do that same thing to make sure that because it's important that that the elections are accepted and free and fair and that Whatever whoever is giving that mandate has a very clear mandate to move the country forward Absolutely And you mentioned cell phones Have a question on cell phones new media Facebook the internet What are your thoughts on recent developments in north Africa and possible implications for the rest of the continent? If there's anything that everyone wants in Liberia is a cell phone No matter where you go, uh, I think what we have 1.2 million users In a country where you know the Building out the system is so limited in so many places that just goes to tell you something now I'm told about twitter and facebook. I don't know those ones, you know But I'm sure many of our young people too there You you mentioned in in a response to another question about your philanthropy secretariat that I'm coordinates the philanthropic Donations or interests in Liberia Do you have any thoughts about coordinating bilateral and multilateral assistance? Because you think about the empires declaration the follow-up in acra The discussion about aid effectiveness had a very very lengthy sidebar On coordinating multilateral and bilateral assistance any thoughts for Liberia? Yeah, we do have some coordination coordinating mechanisms to ensure that Multilateral and bilateral aid come together You know harmonized, you know A way thereby making it more effective It's a difficult task because you're still dealing with With individual countries that have their own priorities and their own processes and their own policies So getting that coordination Can go so far and no further So But we continue to work at it We continue to say that if you believe in the ownership principle That the priorities should be our national priorities and and you should adjust your assistance to those priorities It works to a certain extent, but there they're always, you know a little bit of difference Where people have their own mindset and their own policies and it's their resources So you have to find compromises to make sure that You get the coordination, but at the same time also respect the You know the views and the policies of others Thank you I'll give the final question to the diaspora. We had at least five questions from members of diaspora asking Exactly, how could they help? How could they be involved in what's going on in Liberia and are there ways that They could transfer their skills and their energies and resources to support Absolutely remittances are still a major Part, you know of our resources Liberias in the diaspora send money back to their families You know until their institutions and whatnot and that's a very important element in it We would like to see the skills come back and That's starting to happen In a slow pace obviously our economy has to be prepared to To absorb them and to give them the the level of compensation and services to which they become accustomed Um, but but that's starting and we're also encouraging them to for those who cannot come back right away permanently That they might use some of their vacation time and do You know some service in the area of their profession by coming. We have one such group um the heart program In which um doctors one of which is my own son who helped to organize it Where he gets a group of doctors from here and they go out and they work in the hospitals for A month two weeks and they have a rotating scheme and it involves some Liberian doctors But a lot of American doctors with whom he works And we'd like to see that happen in some of the other professions, you know in engineering Where we have a basic scarcity at a time when We have all these these major concessions and major entities opening up We don't have the skills in that area and we like to attract those in it to ask for Liberians first and Africans next and then everybody else There's room for all You know, uh, madam president on behalf of our president and ambassador Richard Solomon Staff of the institute and all our guests We'd like to thank you very much for being so generous with your time and sharing so freely and frankly with us Thank you so much and we wish you and like the all the people of Liberia every success um, thanks also to um, reval levingson and kRL for being so supportive and to Amanda Mayoral and the great team here at usip for making this possible Um, may I ask that we remain seated as the president and her entourage leave But before as she does join me in thanking her for an excellent feedback