Washington, DC — President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia will meet U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House on Wednesday, October 22. The two leaders will discuss "U.S.- Liberian cooperation including efforts to reform Liberia's security sector, combat malaria, and improve the quality of education," the White House announced on Tuesday.
The statement said the meeting also provides "an opportunity for the President to reinforce the U.S. long-term commitment to assist Liberia in its reconstruction and stabilization efforts."
On Tuesday, the Liberian leader is slated to take part in the White House Summit on International Development. "This Summit will focus on the Administration's core principles in transforming international development: country ownership, good governance, results-based programs and accountability, and the importance of economic growth," the White House said.
Bush visited Liberia during a five-nation African trip in February, and he has met with Johnson Sirleaf in Washington on four previous occasions since she took office as Africa's first elected head-of-state in January 2006. She has attracted broad bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress, which honored her with an invitation to address a joint meeting of the Senate and House two months after her inauguration and has voted to increase assistance for the country, founded in the 1820s as a colony for freed American slaves.
Last November, Bush awarded the Liberian leader the U.S. Medal of Freedom. During the award ceremony, Bush called Johnson Sirleaf "a woman of courage, and a giver of hope" and added: "when the President comes to the Oval Office, she walks in with a to-do list."
The White House meeting on Wednesday is expected an announcement of a modest increase in American support for the Liberian leader's efforts to reduce poverty and rebuild an economy devastated by fourteen years of brutal civil war and a quarter century of internal conflict.
In July, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Democrat – Illinois) introduced legislation authorizing U.S. $225 million in assistance to Liberia over the next five years. Known as the Liberia Stabilization, Economic Empowerment, Development and Security Act - the "Seeds Act" would focus funding on infrastructural development, enhanced government accountability and improved security.
