A high-powered Indian delegation arrived here on Wednesday to begin two days of talks geared towards the strengthening of the 1978 Trade and Cooperation agreement signed between the two countries. The delegation, the first of its kind in 40 years, is headed by the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. Sashi Tharoor.
This country’s first brush with Indians was in the early 50s when, in response to a request from the Liberian Government, UNESCO sent a team of professors to Liberia to aid in the opening of the Science wing of the University of Liberia and to conduct science courses. Three Indian professors were part of that team – two chemists and a biologist. They did remarkably well and in no time raised the level of science training at the university.
We are therefore taken aback that among those officials selected to hold discussions with the visiting Indian delegation, neither the President of the University of Liberia nor the Minister of Education were listed among the lot.
In view of the priority this Government places on education, no better investment could be made by the Indians than equipping us with teachers in the fields of science and technology.
Every delegation that comes to Liberia may not be interested in partnering with us in natural resource exploitation alone. Yet we always seem to forget this and tend to look with wide eyes only at the National Investment Commission, thinking about what we have to offer or what we can get out of them. We sometimes seem to be unmindful of the fact that the best investment made is in the education of our youth and at our institutions of learning. Let them give us help there! We know what they did for us years ago.
Such investments are two-pronged they educate our children and strengthen our educational institutions. In this way, we need not look abroad for experts. Help us with our health policies and send us some doctors and medicines (nothing counterfeit, please).
Currently, we see India just as we see the Lebanese or other traders. They sell us substandard goods and take away our money. They sell us butter rice, which lures us away from our own agricultural pursuits. Let this delegation change all of this. Teach us how to fish. Engage us in joint partnership in agriculture, leading towards sustained economic growth. Let us forge partnership in areas such as information technology, health and pharmaceuticals. Help us improve our agricultural policies that will make us self-sustaining; but above all, help us to transform our educational institutions to adequately cater for the needs of the nation.
This delegation arrives at a timely juncture, when major decisions are being made in the education and business sectors. The time is ripe for India to forge a mutually working beneficial partnership with Liberia, taking advantage of the already existing goodwill.
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Updated: September 17, 2009 - 1:55pm
A high-powered Indian delegation arrived here on Wednesday to begin two days of talks geared towards the strengthening of the 1978 Trade and Cooperation agreement signed between the two countries. The delegation, the first of its kind in 40 years, is headed by the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. Sashi Tharoor.
This country’s first brush with Indians was in the early 50s when, in response to a request from the Liberian Government, UNESCO sent a team of professors to Liberia to aid in the opening of the Science wing of the University of Liberia and to conduct science courses. Three Indian professors were part of that team – two chemists and a biologist. They did remarkably well and in no time raised the level of science training at the university.
We are therefore taken aback that among those officials selected to hold discussions with the visiting Indian delegation, neither the President of the University of Liberia nor the Minister of Education were listed among the lot.
In view of the priority this Government places on education, no better investment could be made by the Indians than equipping us with teachers in the fields of science and technology.
Every delegation that comes to Liberia may not be interested in partnering with us in natural resource exploitation alone. Yet we always seem to forget this and tend to look with wide eyes only at the National Investment Commission, thinking about what we have to offer or what we can get out of them. We sometimes seem to be unmindful of the fact that the best investment made is in the education of our youth and at our institutions of learning. Let them give us help there! We know what they did for us years ago.
Such investments are two-pronged they educate our children and strengthen our educational institutions. In this way, we need not look abroad for experts. Help us with our health policies and send us some doctors and medicines (nothing counterfeit, please).
Currently, we see India just as we see the Lebanese or other traders. They sell us substandard goods and take away our money. They sell us butter rice, which lures us away from our own agricultural pursuits. Let this delegation change all of this. Teach us how to fish. Engage us in joint partnership in agriculture, leading towards sustained economic growth. Let us forge partnership in areas such as information technology, health and pharmaceuticals. Help us improve our agricultural policies that will make us self-sustaining; but above all, help us to transform our educational institutions to adequately cater for the needs of the nation.
This delegation arrives at a timely juncture, when major decisions are being made in the education and business sectors. The time is ripe for India to forge a mutually working beneficial partnership with Liberia, taking advantage of the already existing goodwill.