Liberia boosts private enterprise

Liberia has launched a corporate responsibility forum to help rebuild the war-shattered nation. The public private partnership said “sustainable and responsible business practices” should aid development. “We want to rebuild the entrepreneurial class in the country,” Joseph Mathews, chief of ArcelorMittal Liberia, told BBC News in an exclusive interview. The steel giant is investing $1.5bn (£1bn) in the resource-rich country, partly to rebuild infrastructure. “We have to build up the mine, the railway and the port,” he said. Iron ore shipments from Liberia should start next year and over time the country’s iron ore export industry should be able to turn out between 20 and 40 million tonnes per year, Mr Matthews predicted. During the 1970s and 1980s, the sector accounted for about a third of Liberia’s economy, he estimated. But in recent years, rubber exports to the US and some European nations has accounted for almost all its exports. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Liberia | Company — Ethical Quote link: ArcelorMittal | Source: BBC News