Nairobi – Liberia joined the rest of the global community to participate in the Fourteenth Conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from 17-22 July 2016. The Liberian delegation had two bilaterals with the delegations of Sweden and the Netherlands. A meeting was also held with the Ms. Arancha González, Executive Director, International Trade Center. The Netherlands Minister of Trade, Honorable Lilianne Ploumen, expressed happiness to meet with her Liberian counterpart. Minister Addy briefed Minister Ploumen regarding the progress being made in Liberia and thank her for the support that has led to trade logistics training for customs and trade related institutions. In a meeting with the Swedish delegation, Minister Addy requested that Sweden play the role of donor facilitator for the WTO Post-Accession Plan. In the meeting with the ITC, Minister Addy requested the presence of Ms. González at the Annual MSME Conference to launch the new ITC’s flagship program for women entrepreneurs, Shetrades.

The Honorable Minister of Commerce and Industry, Honorable Axel M. Addy participated on three panel discussions: Maximizing the Benefits of WTO Membership: A Balance of Rights and Obligations, Looking Beyond Emergencies: Ensuring Job Creation in Migrant Sourcing Transiting Countries, and Building Economic Resilience for the Most Vulnerable. Minister Addy also delivered the speech for Liberia at the plenary.

Liberia supported the position accentuated in the UNCTAD Azimio Declaration as well as those in the LDCs and African Group Declarations. Liberia participated in many fora including the World Leaders Summit, Unleashing the Power of E-Commerce for Development, A World without Least Developed Countries: Towards a Better Framework to Assist Structural Transformation for LDC Graduation, Lowering hurdles for Trade: Trade Costs, Regulatory Convergence and Regional Integration, High-level Round Table on Investment and Enterprise Development, What will it take to support LDCs to meet the Sustainable Development Goals?, and E-Certification: The Trade Facilitation Measure, Mainstreaming Trade Facilitation for Regional Integration, and Making Trade Work (better) for Africa and LDCs: How to Ensure that Trade is Inclusive and Pro-Poor.

The Liberian delegation was headed by Honorable Axel M. Addy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Honorable Elfreida Stewart Tamba, Commissioner General, Liberia Revenue Authority, H.E. Paul Tate, Head of Mission, Permanent Mission of Liberia to the United Nations and other international organizations at Geneva, Honorable Steve Marvie, Deputy Minister for Commerce and Trade Services, Honorable Juah Feika, Assistant Minister for Revenue and Tax Policy, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Mr. Wellington Jah, Policy Analyst.