{"id":14078,"date":"2022-10-18T18:58:13","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T18:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/?p=14078"},"modified":"2024-11-04T19:01:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T19:01:44","slug":"the-sierra-leone-finland-investment-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/?p=14078","title":{"rendered":"THE SIERRA LEONE FINLAND INVESTMENT SUMMIT:"},"content":{"rendered":"

A potential gateway for expanded cooperation and accelerated development.<\/p>\n

Even as HE President Julius Maada Bio was taking the kickoff to mark the start of Sierra Leone\u2019s first ever Women\u2019s Premier League football tournament, in a historic ceremony held on the grounds of Makeni\u2019s Wusum Field over the weekend, a strong Sierra Leonean contingent was heading back home to Freetown.
\nThey had just attended
\na major three-day summit with their Finnish counterparts in Helsinki, Finland.<\/p>\n

The high powered delegation which was led by the Hon Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Mr. Abubakarr Karim, also included personalities like Ambassador Bond Wurie, Special Adviser to H.E. President Julius Maada Bio; Mrs. Yvonne King-Odigboh, Sierra Leone\u2019s Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Mr. Bockarie Kalokoh, Deputy Minister 2, Ministry of Finance; Mrs. Emily Gogra, Deputy minister of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education; Prof. Maada Mustapha, Head of National Investment Board and Dr. Dauda Kuyateh, Director of Private Sector Development Unit at the Ministry of Finance.
\nAlso participating in the summit were senior representations from Trade and Investment, Office of the Vice President, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and from the Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

On the Finnish side were ministers and other senior government officers heading critical departments. These included the Finish minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, the minister of Agriculture and Food Safety, and the minister of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

The discussions which centred around promoting cooperation between the two countries, in identified areas, were geared towards supporting the New Direction government of President Julius Maada Bio in driving forward Sierra Leone\u2019s Mid and Long term National Development Plans. The broader goal, as reiterated at the summit, is to build a resilient trade and viable economic relationship between Sierra Leone and Finland.<\/p>\n

The keynote speaker at the event was the Finnish Under Secretary of State for External Economic Relations, Mrs. Nina Vaskunlahti, who underscored the necessity as well as the benefits of the two countries working together to promote mutual interests within the practical framework of positive agenda items.<\/p>\n

The docket of the three-day program largely revolved around the theme of education and supporting efforts in that direction, including possibilities of assisting in the school meals project and teacher training programs. Also high on the agenda was the need of working together to explore and promote investment opportunities in healthcare and tourism.
\nThe speakers looked at the key challenges in all the identified areas, against the backdrop of pertinent lessons learnt from the Covid 19 pandemic situation.
\nThey acknowledged the serious challenges posed by the effects of the Global Climate Change and proposed ways to assist with the adaptation of people, places and systems to the evolving realities<\/p>\n

The participants additionally mapped out courses of action to speedily translate the various discussion points into practical end results.<\/p>\n

In fact, even as the three-day summit ends, pursuing the submitted initiatives is set to vigorously continue in different formats on various related platforms as all parties work towards ensuring the marriage of discussion points to tangible policy initiatives, guaranteeing final implementations on agreed areas.
\nOn Tuesday 18th October 2022, for example, the Deputy Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Mrs. Emily Gogra, would be participating in the First Ministerial Meeting on \u201cthe Schools Meals Coalition\u201d in Helsinki. The opening remarks for that occasion would be delivered by Ville Skinnari, the Finnish Minister for Development and Foreign Trade.<\/p>\n

The rationale of this first ministerial meeting on \u2018School Meals\u2019 is firmly predicated on the increasing realisation that the current global living cost crisis poses the potential of putting the education of millions of children at risk. School meals have been internationally identified as \u201cmulti-sectoral game changers\u201d in helping to ensure enrolments and maintain healthy attendance.<\/p>\n

It is hearty to note that the international community is visibly moving towards the policy positions so readily adopted by the New Direction government of President Julius Maada Bio who has all along underscored the importance of strengthening education as a means of effectively developing Sierra Leone\u2019s Human Capital.
\nIt is easy to see why global partners are increasingly warming up to Sierra Leone and why they are happy to support the sound policy initiatives of President Julius Maada Bio.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sorie Obai Kamara, a long term resident of Finland and the head of the Sierra Leone Consulate Planning Team, played a vital role in facilitating this summit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A potential gateway for expanded cooperation and accelerated development. Even as HE President Julius Maada Bio was taking the kickoff to mark the start of Sierra Leone\u2019s first ever Women\u2019s Premier League football tournament, in a historic ceremony held on the grounds of Makeni\u2019s Wusum Field over the weekend, a strong Sierra Leonean contingent was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14078"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14097,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14078\/revisions\/14097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.slhc-uk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}