As part of an ongoing effort to attract private-sector investors to post-conflict Liberia, The Embassy of Liberia in partnership with The Liberian American Partnership Initiative (LAPI) has selected Atlanta as one of four host sites for a series of U.S. investment forums. The Atlanta conference, scheduled for October 6, 2007, at the Atlanta Civic Center from 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. is expected to attract hundreds of Liberians, entrepreneurs and investors from the Southeast U.S. with an interest in doing business with Liberia and Liberians. Washington, DC Conference is scheduled for Otcober 1, 2007.

The investment conference series is a follow-up to the Liberia Private Sector Investment Forum, held in Washington, D.C., in February of this year. Pursuant to a mandate by Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the Forum and the subsequent conferences scheduled to be held in Atlanta, Washington, DC, Chicago and California, are designed to spur additional investments from privately owned companies and entrepreneurs throughout United States. The first of the conferences successfully attracted Hundreds of potential investors earlier this month in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Atlanta conference is expected to muster a greater success with new strategies and participants.

Atlanta will be the second in the series of five “Road Shows” and will include presentations from Liberian government official, Ministers, Liberians, Americans and other experts in various investment sectors including; Housing and Transportation, Agriculture and Forestry, Power and Electricity generation, Mining and Natural Resources, Business Opportunities in the “New Liberia”, Health and Education, Information Technology, and Financing Options for Investment in Liberia.

Key presenters will include Mr. Richard Tolbert, Chairman of the National Investment Commission, Bankie King-Akerele, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Charles Minor of the Liberian Embassy, and Dr. Eugene Shannon, Minister of Lands, Mines & Energy of Liberia. Other major speakers are Scarlet Pressley-Brown, General Manager, Delta Air Lines, Derrick Kayongo, CARE USA, Michael Best, Georgia Tech, and Emmett Harmon, SunTrust Bank, to name a few. Also, Mr. Boakai Sirleaf, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Christopher Neyor, Energy Advisor to the President of Liberia, and Mr. John Simon, U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), are scheduled to be in attendance to address the forum.

“The inclusion of Atlanta, the Economic Capital of the South, as a participant in a Liberian comprehensive development plan, is paramount to the incremental growth and development of our "Beloved Country", Liberia. Atlanta has the attributes that are needed to make a difference. Now, we have to create the "will" to spur this partnership, said Wilfred Harris, President of the Liberian American Partnership Initiative (LAPI) whose purpose is to develop public-private partnerships between Liberia and the U.S.

Other Local partners include The Liberian Association of Metropolitan Atlanta (LAMA, Inc.), Global Strategies for Good, LLC (GSG), an international resource development company and Global Professional Networking Directory (GPND).

Registration fees are $50 including breakfast, lunch and access to all Symposia Sessions. Additional Registration and Hotel Reservation information can be assessed at the Embassy of Liberia Website, at www.embassyofliberia.org or http://www.atscmedia.net. For further information, call Cynthia Blandford Nash, at (678) 612-2192 or Wilfred Harris at (770)-310-6161.

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