On Friday, 6th April 2012, His Excellency Mr. Joseph Boakai, the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia accompanied by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Miatta Beyslow, NIC Executive Director, Ciatta Bishop and His Excellency the Liberia's Ambassador to the United States met with the UCPSARnet composed of  Dr. Marek Wosinski (Facilitator of the Network) Osee Romeo Tcheupgoum (Associate Facilitator), and Abigail Miller (ASU Student).

The meeting was on the occasion of the Symposium on Trade and Investment Opportunities in Liberia organized by AMI Consultants, Inc. and sponsored by the Arizona District Export Council.

In his letter inviting participation in this symposium the Vice President Joseph N. Boakai was stressing the importance of vocational training of youth as critical to the building of the nation economy.  

During the meeting, UCP-SARnet Delegation  presented the mission of the network and emphasized how it can contribute to the education of community leaders in Liberia by inspiring partnerships between universities, community organizations, government and corporate businesses. Furthermore, our delegation presented the benefits of collaboration with such organizations as:

-  Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., a global agribusiness corporation with presence in 120 countries, and 1.5 billion US$  market capitalization and nominated by the  World Economic Forum as the World Champion of Sustainability.

- The World Youth Alliance, a global coalition  of young people promoting the dignity
of the person and building solidarity among developed and developing nations.

- Department of Agricultural Education (University of Arizona) that prepares students to become effective leaders, ambassadors, and/or advocates for the agricultural industry at local, state, national and international levels.

- Care for Life, a global non-profit organization with a holistic approach to ending poverty in a sustainable way by preserving the family while encouraging and enabling the practice of self-reliance.

- Biofuel Revolution, an organization that designs, develops, plans, constructs, administers and delivers  sustainable-profitable food and renewable energy solutions.

The meeting was concluded with the following:

1. Vice-President Bokai will contact UCP-SARnet with the Minister of Agriculture to further discuss plans of collaboration with the network and Jain Irrigation Systems, Ltd. that will include providing models of ecologically green agricultural solutions for food production, relevant educational resources and expert consultation on community related projects;

2. UCP-SARnet will:

• Invite certain amount of young community leaders to the International Leadership Training organized in India in September. 2012;
• Organize in Liberia training workshops for community leaders;
• Introduce tested models for the development of sustainable communities;
• Facilitating collaboration between government, university, corporate business  and community organizations.