MONROVIA, June 2 (LINA) -The Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Representative Henry Fahnbulleh, has said Liberia’s foreign policy has experienced a strategic shift under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
He said although the scope of the foreign policy of Liberia was affected by the protracted civil conflict, President Sirleaf has within a short period of time significantly transformed the country’s external policy.
Fahnbulleh made the statement at the weekend during a program marking the induction of officers-elect of the Gabriel L. Dennis Foreign Service Institute Class of 2014, in the Cecil Dennis Auditorium at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia.
The Montserrado Count District Number Four Representative noted that President Sirleaf, the Chief Foreign Policy Architect of Liberia, knew all too well that continuing on the traditional course of the country’s foreign policy would not have yielded any benefits for a post- conflict nation with all its vital economic sectors
in ruins.
According to him, the fundamental shift in Government’s foreign policy is not a shift in objective as is being misunderstood in certain quarters of the country, but rather a strategic shift using the economic tools of the country to achieve the national interest.
Making a comparative analysis of Liberia’s past and present foreign policy status, the Lawmaker asserted that in the past Liberian foreign policy contributed more and received less, unlike now where President Sirleaf, whose vision of economic and developmental diplomacy, has netted great benefits for the nation in a relatively short period of time.
Meanwhile, Representative Fahnbulleh has called on the leadership and students of the Foreign Service Institute to see their role as significant as they emerge in the diplomatic field.
He added that their ability to resolve conflict both at home and abroad will require great skills in influencing other nations to look in the direction of their nation.
The Gabriel L. Dennis Foreign Service Institute was established in 1951, as the professional training and research unit of the Ministry of Foreign affairs.
It has the mandate to create a program conducive for the exchange of ideas on the political understanding of global economic relations, cultural diversity, integration and issues of conflict.
The institution was named in honor of Foreign Minister Gabriel L. Dennis, who served from 1944-1954 under the administration of President William V.S. Tubman.
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