Equato-Guinean strongman, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has agreed to arrange the financing and construction of infrastructure at Liberia's sole international airport, Monrovia's Roberts International Airport, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.
According to a press-release from Liberia's Presidential portal, the MOU was signed by the two Governments in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on Tuesday, May 21. Liberia’s Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Mr. Lewis G. Brown II, signed on behalf of the Liberian Government, while Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mr. Agapito Mba Mokuy, signed for his Government.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Mr Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea, and Ms Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia.
The MOU states that to begin the realization of these projects, both Governments agreed that their technical committees would meet in a fortnight to define and study the relevant projects and adopt modalities from their financing and implementation. The first technical delegation from Equatorial Guinea is expected in Monrovia in early June.
The MOU states that to begin the realization of these projects, both Governments agreed that their technical committees would meet in a fortnight to define and study the relevant projects and adopt modalities from their financing and implementation. The first technical delegation from Equatorial Guinea is expected in Monrovia in early June.
Last year, Transport
Minister Eugene Lenn Nagbe disclosed his intentions of transforming
Roberts International Airport into a modern Class A international
airport with the overall aim of creating a regional hub within three years.
With a planned budget of USD163million, the Liberian government is in talks with an undisclosed Dutch company over the project which, should financing with Malabo be agreed, commence shortly.
Equatorial Guinea is sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer, after Nigeria and Angola. Oil tax revenues accounted for about 90% of total tax income in 2011.