Liberia intends to break away from the ‘donor-recipient’ aid model and establish itself as an attractive destination for foreign private capital (see EUROPE 13815/7). The country has drawn up a national development plan for 2029 and is counting on the European Union – with which it co-organised its first business forum in Brussels on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 February – to support and accelerate the implementation of its transformation agenda.
In an interview with Agence Europe on Tuesday, the European Union’s ambassador to Liberia, Nona Deprez, describes the opportunities and continuing challenges in this West African country. (Interview by Bernard Denuit)
Agence Europe – How has Liberia developed in recent years to foster a business-friendly environment?
Liberia went through a very horrible civil war that lasted a long time, during which most of the infrastructure was destroyed: roads, hydropower, water, sanitation. Since the end of the war in 2003, Liberia has been reconstructing. But of course it takes time to reconstruct these infrastructures.
Under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, there was first debt alleviation. Then you need to find funds, of course, then you need to do the tendering, then you need to build. Then there was Ebola, which also stopped everything for about a year. Then there was COVID. Just to give you an example, Mount Coffee, which is the hydropower currently being used in Liberia, which existed before the war, was only reopened in 2015.
So now Liberia is still very much in need of energy, road infrastructure, water, and sanitation. Liberia is very poor. We have a very fast-growing population. It’s a democratic and stable country, and that’s very important. This government is really trying to improve the business environment in terms of transparency, accountability, and rule of law.
How does EU public funding catalyse private investment and what have been the main recent investments by the European Union?
Recently, we have still been doing what you would call traditional cooperation. You heard this morning about TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training). The EU and its Member States have invested heavily in TVET, which is very much needed to get a skilled labour force.
We have also invested in roads, with the EU combining a grant with loans from the European Investment Bank. We have, of course, also been part of the first investors in the hydropower project, Mount Coffee. We have provided electricity distribution in Monrovia, and now we are also doing electrification of three cities in the southeast.
We want to do more. We are hoping that through this business forum we can finalize government decisions on which hydropower we are going to go for, which roads we are going to go for.
Liberia wants to move away from the traditional 'donor-recipient' model of development aid. How to ensure that private investment contributes to development and benefits the local population?
Liberia places great importance on local employment. Whenever Liberia grants a concession to a foreign company, it needs to make sure that they recruit Liberians to do the job. Not only do they recruit Liberians, but they train Liberians. They actually go and scout in schools. They have their own TVET schools to make sure that they get skilled labour. They train them and then immediately recruit them to make sure they have trained labour. This is just one example, but most companies do this in Liberia. This is also the case for Socfin, the [Luxembourg] agricultural company operating in Liberia, which produces rubber.
The European Commission promotes win-win partnerships. What is Liberia’s strategic importance for the EU?
Well, you know me, I am the EU ambassador, so Liberia is very strategic... But Liberia is, I think, more like a frontier investment place. There is still a lot of potential to be explored, but much of it has not been explored. For example, there is no geological survey at the moment for Liberia. So I would encourage European companies to come in, do geological surveys, and then benefit in an equal partnership from Liberia’s endowments with Europe’s capacities.
What are the main obstacles holding back investors today?
There are many of them. Infrastructure: roads, energy. If you invest in Liberia at the moment, there is not enough energy generation from the electricity company. You have to bring your own generators, which is very expensive. So energy costs are very high. Roads are in very bad condition. Part of the country is not accessible during the rainy season. There is congestion at the port. Those are structural challenges.
In terms of the regulatory framework, it is improving. Recently, the government of Liberia passed a regulation on public-private partnerships. That did not exist before. This government is also trying to improve the business climate. It would be good if Liberia were to set up a one-stop shop, but that is not the case at the moment. Many improvements can still be made.
And what is the EU doing to fight corruption and strengthen good governance?
We have a private sector development programme. (...) We also have a public financial management support programme where we provide capacity building and technical assistance to all integrity institutions in Liberia.
There is growing instability in the Sahel, particularly in Mali (see EUROPE 13715/19, 13743/13). Is this a cause for concern for a country like Liberia?
For the moment, Liberia is very secure. There are really no security issues in Liberia. But obviously Liberia is just one country away from the Sahel (Côte d’Ivoire to the south and Guinea to the north, editor’s note). Yes, there is a risk of spill-over. There is a threat of spill-over. Liberia’s security forces are vulnerable because they are few.
How is EU-Liberia cooperation working to prevent any spillover that could affect the country’s borders and investment climate?
We work with Liberia on maritime safety. We work on regional maritime security in the context of ECOWAS and the Yaoundé architecture. We have coordinated maritime presence from our EU member states, with vessels coming in, doing port calls in Monrovia, and also doing monitoring at sea. That’s one area.
Liberia is currently a member of the United Nations Security Council. Through our EU Special Representative for the Sahel, His Excellency João Cravinho, we are in close contact.
Liberia is an important player in the context of what we call the “Mano River Union” – Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone – kind of like a subset of ECOWAS. Liberia is also an important player in ECOWAS itself. So it’s important for us to have this dialogue with Liberia.