U.S. Envoy Zadrozny: Liberia Cannot Build Its Economy Through Aid Alone
The U.S. Embassy compound in Monrovia (file photo, illustrative of the U.S. mission to Liberia, not of the event described). Photo: U.S. Department of Defense / Cpl. A. Olguin, USMC, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Outgoing U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Joe Zadrozny told Liberian officials that foreign assistance alone cannot sustain the country's development, urging stronger contract enforcement, transparency, and uniform investment rules.
U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Joe Zadrozny told Liberian officials on September 18 that foreign assistance alone cannot sustain the country's economic development, delivering the message during the official opening of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Development Team's office in Monrovia.
"Liberia cannot build the economy it wants through assistance alone," Zadrozny said, framing his remarks as a call for Liberia to take greater ownership of the conditions needed to attract private investment rather than relying primarily on donor support.
The outgoing diplomat, who is preparing to conclude his tenure leading the U.S. Embassy, urged Liberia to enforce contracts and maintain predictable regulations, strengthen transparency in government operations, resolve business disputes fairly, tighten oversight of the natural-resource sector including illegal mining, and apply uniform investment standards regardless of an investor's country of origin.
Zadrozny acknowledged President Joseph Nyuma Boakai's "open for business" declaration but suggested that implementation, not rhetoric, is what will determine whether it succeeds. He pointed to Liberia's natural resources, young workforce, English-speaking population, Atlantic Ocean access, and long-standing relationship with the United States as advantages the country has yet to fully leverage.
The U.S. cited its own recent commitments as evidence of continued partnership, including $146.3 million invested in rehabilitating the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant and a $173 million five-year bilateral health arrangement. Whether Zadrozny's call for contract enforcement and anti-corruption reform translates into concrete policy change will likely fall to his successor and to a Boakai administration that has staked its credibility on being "open for business."