President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who Wednesday made the disclosure at the USA-Africa Business Forum in New York, said this is part of the Public-Private Partnership initiative of the two institutions.

"Unfortunately, Liberia has one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world and access to fiber connectivity costs significantly more than neighboring countries," said President Sirleaf.

She added: "This initiative will expand connectivity by reducing costs of access and will play a vital part in the path forward to help Liberian youth fulfill the promise of a new generation. We expect this will boost the economy, support Telemedicine and connected health programs, as well as extended education resources in universities and primary school classrooms."

The Government of Liberia expects that this partnership will address critical infrastructure gaps in their ICT sector by expanding access to connectivity, according to a dispatch from New York.

This will allow the country to meet some of its social and economic targets which will invariably stimulate economic transformation and raise the living standard of their people, the dispatch said.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to work on this important metro fiber project." said Marian Croak, Google's Vice President for Access for Next Billion Users.

"We are getting involved because we have a number of efforts to improve public health in Liberia and surrounding countries. In addition to spurring economic growth, we believe that better internet connections can have a big impact on improving the rapid response to public health crises,” Croak noted.
LINA PR/PTK