The Annual Partnership Meeting of the Liberia National Red Cross Society (LNRCS) opens in Monrovia Monday.

More than 16 local and international partners from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement have already begun arriving for the Meeting.

The Partnership Meeting is an annual gathering of the Liberian Red Cross and its partners, intended to generate funding to support the LNRCS' operations in the coming year, and review the operations of the past year.

This year's meeting, dubbed "Liberian Red Cross Partnership Meeting 2010," will run from November 2 to 3, 2010.

Highlights of the Partnership Meeting will include an analysis of LNRCS' 2009 funding and program implementation rates (progress, gaps and challenges); presentation of program plans for 2010 by Liberian Red Cross program directors; the global financial meltdown and its implication for donor funding to the LNRCS, among others.

Partners expected to participate in this year's LNRCS' Partnership Meeting include the Norwegian Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, Swedish Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Red Cross, Emmanuel Tommy, is also expected as a guest participant.