By Kruah Thompson (Intern)
The Manor River Union (MRU) in collaboration with the GIZ regional resource governance program climaxes the second phase of its semi-regional training for mining and revenue technical staff.
The second phase of the training was held at ICampus conference hall on Carey Street, Monrovia under the theme ‘Kimberley process certification scheme data collection and statistics management.’
According to a release, the project is funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The implementation is coordinated by the MRU Secretariat with technical support from GIZ in a regional approach to the implementation of the Kimberley Process in the subregion.
The regional support was established by the KPCS in 2023 in South Africa to support the MRU countries.
The release says by improving public oversight of the sector, the regional approach contributes to increasing benefits for miners such as higher revenue and employment.
The project provides support in four fields of action which include: strengthening capacities of national governments to implement the Kimberley process, better regulate artisanal mining, and capture revenue in line with the African mining vision (AMV) and policy within the MRU countries.
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The project has a term of two years and six months from October 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022.
Participating institutions include the national revenue authority of Sierra Leone and the national mineral agency of Sierra Leone, and the ministry of mines and energy, and the Liberia revenue authority, respectively of Liberia.
Meanwhile, the national preparations planning meeting of law enforcement agencies in implementing Training of Trainers workshop for peers on money laundering and terrorism financing through smuggling of precious stones and metal in the Manor River Union Basin.
The program is being implemented by the German agency GIZ and co-financed by the European Union and the Mano River Union.
The general objective of the meeting is to organize training schedule and methodology to cascade previous training received by law enforcement agencies on money laundering and terrorism financing through precious stones and metal in the subregional body to their peers in mining areas in southeast Liberia
The training specifically focuses on rehearsal knowledge acquired by LEAS to cascade training on specific knowledge of smuggling practices, money laundering, and terrorist financing thru international trade and cross-border physical transport of cash.
Participants for the meeting are those who attended the previous training for investigation and prosecuting authority from 30 June to July 1, 2021, in Monrovia.
They came from the Liberia Immigration Service (2 representatives), Liberia National Police (2 representatives) Fraud Intelligence Unit (2 representatives), Ministry of Mines (2 representatives), and the Liberia Revenue Authority (2 representatives), respectively.
Meanwhile, diamonds from MRU countries namely; Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivoire were major contributors to civil war in Sierra Leone and Liberia for decades.
Diamonds are not the only important resource in the MRU, but artisanal mining has a long tradition with a significant impact on people and their environment.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/mru-undp-project-engages-stakeholders-on-border-health-security-and-economic-stability/ Editing by Jonathan Browne
