By: Varney Dukuly
BALI, INDONESIA/MONROVIA: Joe Biden, says the US digital blended finance program is expected to establish a nationwide fiber network in Liberia with focus to help connect 1 million Liberians have affordable access to the internet.
“And through the United States’ Digital (Invest) blended finance program, we are working with Kenya partner CSquared to establish a nationwide fiber network in Liberia that going to help connect 1 million Liberians to the web,” said, US President Joe Biden.
President Biden was speaking at the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) Meeting, held in Bali, Indonesia, on November 15, 2022.
He told the global gathering that through the United States’ Digital blended finance program, “we are working with Kenya partner CSquared to establish a nationwide fiber network in Liberia that’s going to help connect 1 million Liberians to the web,” he added.
Biden tagged the cost of the investment for Liberia and other developing countries around the world to a billion 200 hundred million.
He told world leaders at the PGII meeting that it was part of America’s efforts to make sure every single community and others have access to affordable internet.
“Well, that is the case all around the world,” Biden said.
The US President outlined America’s support in curtailing climate change, adding the next is health infrastructure. He said the US will continue to support vaccine manufacturing in Africa and Asia and at the same time investing $15 million through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation in India’s health infrastructure.
Background on the U.S. Digital Investment For Liberia
This is the second time Liberia will benefit from partnering with infrastructure CSquared and the United States Agency for International Development to bring best-in-class, reliable, affordable broadband infrastructure to Monrovia.
In 2014 under the leadership of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, CSquared Liberia entered into a tripartite partnership with the Government of Liberia and USAID to connect 51 Government Institutions to high speed reliable networks.
This partnership was created after the Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia and the need for infrastructure, digitization initiatives, and economic development in the capital Monrovia was realized.
Services available in Liberia included Leased Capacity and Dark Fiber which are mostly used by MNOs to connect their base stations. Managed Ethernet and Capacity Pool are targeted at enterprise connections like banks and small to medium businesses.
Former President Johnson-Sirleaf described the partnership at the time. “ICT is an integral part of economic development that is often overlooked and undervalued. By expanding our connectivity through this initiative, we will strengthen the support for more ICT-based projects and programs in Education, Health, and Infrastructure.”
Touching on the Gender parity global debate, the U.S. President said, when we invest in equal opportunity for women, we can deliver greater prosperity for everyone.
“We’ve seen over the last few years, strengthening health security must be — must be a priority for all of us. We just went through a long discussion on that.”
The U.S. according to him is working with the G7 nations and the World Bank to launch the Invest in Childcare Initiative to help families get children they need and help women get the opportunities they deserve to be able to be in the workforce.
“We’re already starting to see returns. For example, the initiative has funded a project in Somalia, and that will help nearly 300,000 women across the country to build literacy and leadership skills,” President Biden said.
