Monday Feb 15, 2016-The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in conjunction with the Ministry of Information Cultural Affairs and Tourism have launched the first ever stakeholders consultation on Liberia’s Tourism and Furniture sectors. The consultations are a platform for stakeholders to discuss the current situation, challenges and advancements relating to the products of the two sectors in light of value chain conditions, supply capacities and cross-cutting competitiveness hurdles.

Highly practical and results-oriented in nature, the consultation will result in the following:

• Sector baseline analysis and validation of the sectors value chain
• Identification of key competitiveness issues impacting the sectors
• Identifying the strategic objectives that the strategy should address;
• Definition of the sectors’ vision;
• Solutions development
• Identification and assessment of strategic opportunities that can be leveraged by the sectors;

This first workshop will be followed by a set of bilateral consultations as well as complementary analytical work. Sequentially, a 2nd participatory consultation will be organized in April 2016 to further refine the strategy’s detailed plan of action, which will serve to guide the sector’s development.