Koreans Seek Investment Opportunity in Liberia
Hyundai’s Chief Financial Officer Dr. B.J Yang, and the Senior Executive Vice President of the South Korean automobile have expressed their companies interest in investing in the Liberian economy.
Speaking during a courtesy call on Vice President Joseph N. Boakai, Sr., Monday, Dr. Yang said his company was interested in engaging in logging and other businesses. The Hyundai executive observed that electricity is a human right, and that it was disheartening that most Africans do not have access to electricity.
He said Hyundai Company has manufactured the Mobile Power Station, which he noted, is a good solution to the problem of electricity plaguing African countries.
“The mobile power station is contained in a box. It is practically mobile and does not require any transmission line. One box has a 228 megawatt capacity,” Dr. Yang said, adding that Liberia might need this kind of product which is very popular in Cuba.
He added that Hyundai also manufactures products like refineries and steel mills. Also briefing the Vice President, Mr. Seungwan Sohn, Head of the Marketing Strategy Department of Medison Company, said his company wants to bring in a mobile hospital which, he noted, is basically a container full of medical equipment, including imaging devices and operating theaters.
He said the mobile hospital is ideal for use in the rural areas. Mr. Sohn said his company is one of the largest suppliers of medical products, and has worked with several emerging countries, including African countries.
Welcoming the investors, Vice President Boakai observed that the availability of electricity is critical to attracting investment, and that post-war Liberia which is endowed with immense natural resources has not been able to attract the needed investment and create adequate jobs for its citizenry due to lack of electricity.
VP Boakai said for a country that had a hydro plant that supplied electricity to many parts of the country, the electricity that the country currently enjoys is “just a trickle for social services”, noting, “We don’t have the electrical supply required to jumpstart our broken economy”.
He observed that even though government has constructed health centers across the country, it is still faced with the challenge of providing adequate health care for its citizenry due to the lack of trained medical personnel.
He therefore welcomed the concept of a mobile hospital, especially as many parts of the country are not easily accessible due to lack of roads.
“These are all critical to ensuring the welfare of our citizenry, especially for a country emerging from a protracted civil conflict,” the Vice President noted.
He informed the investors that the current government has found it difficult to restart logging because it inherited sanctions that were imposed on Liberian logs, and that upon taking over, the government has come out with an ambitious forestry law to comply with internationally accepted practice.
Vice President Boakai recounted the close diplomatic ties that have subsisted between Liberia and South Korea over the years,
He also lauded South Korea for standing by Liberia during its period of conflict, and welcomed South Korean businessmen to take advantage of the ideal situation now prevailing in Liberia and invest in the post-war country, assuring them of government’s fullest support and protection.
