“Your vote of confidence has inspired us”

The Chair of ECOWAS Council of Ministers, Madam Marjon V. Kamara, has told her colleagues that their vote of confidence has inspired and encouraged she and others in the Liberian Government to work unflinchingly to sustain the peace which the people of this country have enjoyed for 13 consecutive years.

Madam Kamara, who’s also Liberia’s Foreign Minister, informed the foreign guests how highly honored Liberians are to host the 2017 mid-year statutory meetings of the sub-regional body taking place at the Farmington Hotel in lower Margibi County.

In her welcome remarks at the 78th Ordinary Meeting of ECOWAS Council of Ministers,she also apologized for whatever inconveniences her colleagues and visiting guests may have experienced since their arrival considering the venue of the meetings as a newly constructed hotel just opening for business.

“This meeting is being held in facilities which are obviously very new and still to be fully completed,” she said, adding, “Let me therefore renew my apologies for the inconveniences you may suffer. Please be assured that every effort is being made to improve services and increase the level of comfort,” she appealed.

Foreign Minister Kamara said that hosting the ECOWAS meeting is an honor but it comes with challenges because Liberia has not hosted meetings of this magnitude for 38 years, since the Summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1979.

On the positive side, Foreign Minister Kamara believed that the environment of serenity which the Farmington Hotel offers far away from the noise, the traffic jam and congestion of inner city Monrovia, is propitious for the concentration and focus that is needed to bring to the deliberations over the next two days.

She reminded the Council of Ministers that fruitful outcomes will require concerted effort and energy of every one of them, adding, “Our Organization demands no less of us. We must rise to the task and achieve our mission.”

In his opening remarks, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Marcel Alain de Souza, paid homage to the Chair of the ECOWAS Authority, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who he has done all to make the ECOWAS Meetings a success. “It’s been amazing what great work President Sirleaf and her government have done,” he stated.

He made the audience to give a round of applause to the Chair of the Council of Ministers for the splendid work she has done since assuming the post. She turns over the position at the end of the 51st Summit on Sunday, June 4, 2017.

The Commission’s President also joined Foreign Minister Kamara to apologize for any inadequacies that any of the visiting guests might have experienced.

Providing updates on happenings in the sub-region, he maintained that the main aims for which the forefathers in the sub-region established ECOWAS, are being achieved, including free movement of goods and trade.

He, however, informed his audience that the region still faces lots of challenges. He also called on all ECOWAS member states to work towards a single currency but not with a rush.