Liberia reintroduces itself to multinational corporations and global financiers as it seeks to accelerate growth under President Joseph Boakai’s two-year-old administration. In an exclusive interview with Liberia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, FORBES AFRICA learns more.
Liberia used its first-ever official event at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos to reposition the country as an emerging destination for investment and diplomatic influence.
“This was about projecting Liberia and opening conversations. It was about attracting partners who can see both our opportunities and our constraints, which are also opportunities,” Foreign Affairs Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti explains to FORBES AFRICA.
While Liberia has previously been represented at Davos, including by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the gathering marked the first time the West African nation hosted its own event, centered on economic diplomacy rather than deal-making, Nyanti says.
The event featured companies and institutions including Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). Nyanti says SpaceX cited Liberia’s improving business environment as a factor behind its expansion, with its Starlink satellite internet services launched in the country a year ago now spreading nationwide after government intervention helped resolve regulatory and operational bottlenecks.
Afreximbank, meanwhile, highlighted its role in mitigating financing risks for investors in frontier markets and pitched partnerships in Liberia’s critical minerals, agriculture, energy and infrastructure sectors, Nyanti says.
Liberia’s push comes after taking a non-permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council for the first time in its history, a milestone for a country that was among the four African signatories to the UN Charter in 1945 but had never previously secured election to the council.
Nyanti says the timing is significant as Liberia seeks to link peace, development and economic reform, while amplifying Africa’s call for a permanent Security Council seat. Liberia plans to use its tenure to advocate for inclusive development, climate security and responsible resource governance, she says.
At home, the Boakai administration is prioritizing energy access, roads and transparency to unlock investment. Electricity coverage reportedly stood below 30% when the government took office, prompting an expansion drive with a 75% ambition by 2030. Infrastructure constraints remain among the biggest barriers to growth, Nyanti says.
Liberia’s national budget has risen above $1 billion for the first time, reaching $1.2 billion, driven by improved domestic revenue collection rather than new borrowing, according to Nyanti. The administration has also tightened tax compliance, beginning with mandatory asset declarations for public officials.
The government is placing particular emphasis on vocational training, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and digital skills to prepare for Africa’s demographic surge, with Africans projected to make up one in four people globally within the next quarter-century.
Liberia is also pushing for deeper regional integration, prioritizing intra-African trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and sub-regional cooperation within the Mano River Union (MRU) it co-founded with Sierra Leone in 1973, later joined by Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire.
Nyanti says Liberia’s long-term strategy centers on value addition while strengthening environmental protections to prevent resource-driven conflict.
“We must be part of shaping the Africa we want and making sure that our young people are able to take our natural resources and add value to them at home. We should be exporting finished goods. So, this is a focus for Liberia and Liberians,” Nyanti says.
