The NEWS (Monrovia)
20 August 2008
Monrovia — The governments of Japan and Liberia Monday signed an agreement for the provision of US$7.1 million food aid to Liberia.
According to a release, the signing ceremony was held in Accra, Ghana, between Liberian Foreign Minister Olubanke King Akerele and the Japanese Ambassador to Liberia resident in Ghana, Masamichi Ishikawa.
The release said the decision for Japan to provide food aid to Liberia was made in response to a request by Liberian government to assist with the current food situation in the country.
The release said Japanese International Cooperation Service (JICS) would be the agent that would facilitate the procurement of rice.
It can be recalled that on April 25, 2008, Japan announced that it would implement emergency food aid of approximately US$100 million in the next three months in response to increasing food crisis.
Also on July 4, 2008, the release said, Japan announced it would implement food aid of approximately US$50 million by October of this year.
The release: "Japan hosted the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) to which President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf led the delegation of Liberia; summit was held between President Johnson-Sirleaf and His Excellency Yasuo Fukuda, Prime Minister of Japan, during that occasion, food crisis was among the agenda in that meeting."
The release recalled that at the G8 Toyako Summit held in Hokkaido on July 7 - 9 this year, the issue of rising food prices was intensively discussed at which time Prime Minister Fukuda stated that at the outset that both immediate and mid-long-term policies were indispensable to address the issue of rising food prices, and noted that the leaders discussed various factors contributing to rising food prices and measures to tackle the problem.
The release said the decision was made at the end of July 2008 by the government of Japan, and added that a total of 4,710 million Japanese Yen is in bilateral assistance and a total of 1,910 million Yen would go through the World Food Programme.
Meanwhile, Japan and Liberia have had a long standing relation, dating back to Liberia pre war years. The new chapter of the cooperation started with the visit of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to Japan in March 2007, during which she and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on further strengthening Japan - Liberia relationship.
As part of the result of the visit, a Japanese Foreign Ministry delegation visited Liberia and participated in the Liberia - Japan Cooperation dialogue in May last year.
The following projects were subsequently approved and are currently being undertaken by the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA): Follow-up Cooperation on the Liberian-Japanese Friendship Maternity Hospital, Rehabilitation of the Liberian-Japanese Friendship Maternity Hospital and Master Plan Study on Urban Facilities Restoration and Improvement.
Other projects include formulation of a short and medium-term development plan to improve road network, drainage system, water supply and environment (including sewer and solid waste management), dispatch a short-term Expert of Medical Equipment Management to the Liberian-Japanese Friendship Maternity Hospital and the provision of Capacity Building Training Program for Government Ministries and Agencies.
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