Click Here to Make TheLiberianTimes.com Your Homepage

Liberia: ADF Chair Ward Brehm To Meet Liberia’s President Sirleaf
Apr 4, 2006
by Michaela Newnham / Marketing Associate /African Development Foundation

WASHINGTON – April 3, 2006 – The White House announced today that the Chairman of the African Development Foundation (ADF), Ward Brehm, of Wayzata, Minnesota, will join U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Ambassador Karen Hughes, as President Bush’s official emissaries to the inauguration of Benin’s newly elected president, Dr. Yayi Boni.

The delegation will depart Washington tomorrow to attend Dr. Boni’s inauguration in Porto Novo, Benin on Thursday.

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to represent our nation and demonstrate America’s continued support for Benin as it inaugurates a new president,” Mr. Brehm said. “The people elected Dr. Boni their president through free and fair elections last month. I look forward to saluting Benin’s continued commitment to democracy, and the U.S. delegation will applaud Dr. Boni’s commitments to curb corruption and ensure transparency and accountability.”

Following his trip to Benin, Brehm will be traveling to Liberia, where he will be joined by ADF President, Rodney J. MacAlister, and the Foundation’s CEO of Africa Operations, Nate Fields, to meet with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and other government officials and Liberian business people. The ADF delegation will confer with President Johnson-Sirleaf on how the Foundation can assist Liberia in its recovery from civil conflict through support for the growth of small enterprises and through investment in agricultural producer groups.

Mr. Brehm attended an official state luncheon at the White House on March 21 where he welcomed President Johnson-Sirleaf to the United States and promised ADF support for the troubled-but-promising nation.

“President Johnson-Sirleaf is the kind of leader Africa needs more of, one committed to integrity, economic development, free markets and, most importantly, her people,” Brehm continued. “When I met President Johnson-Sirleaf at the White House last month, I pledged that ADF would work hard to find ways to support economic development in Liberia, and that is a promise ADF intends to keep.”

President George W. Bush appointed Brehm ADF chairman in 2004.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dick Day (202) 673-3916
Andy Brehm (612) 708-9042

About the Author:
Michaela Newnham Marketing Associate for African Development Foundation (ADF) Congress established ADF in 1980 as an independent public corporation with a mandate to promote the participation of Africans in the economic and social development of their countries. For more than 20 years, ADF has helped grassroots groups and individuals in Africa help themselves by providing the resources they need to advance their own efforts to promote economic and social development. For more information about ADF, go to www.adf.gov.

Michaela Newnham may be contacted at tel 202-673-3918, email: mnewnham@adf.gov..