Vice President Boakai Heads to Minnesota

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn., August 29, 2012: The Kakata-Brooklyn Park Sister City Committee, in collaboration with the City of Brooklyn Park, is honored to wholeheartedly welcome His Excellency Joseph N. Boakai, Vice-President of Liberia, to Minnesota on Monday Sept. 3.

Vice President Boakai’s three-day official visit, which concludes on Wednesday Sept. 5, will include a town hall meeting with Liberians in Minnesota, bilateral talks with city and state officials, engagement with leaders of educational institutions, discussion with a long list of partners to support Liberia’s development agenda, and an appreciation dinner in his honor.

As head of a four-man high-powered delegation, Vice-President Boakai team to Minnesota will comprise His Excellency Jeremiah Sulunteh, Liberia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Edwin Sele, deputy chief of mission, and Sam Stevquoah, his chief of staff.

At a town hall forum on Monday Sept. 3, where he is expected to give context to both the remarkable gains and the inherent challenges of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s defining policy goals, Vice-President Boakai will field several questions from members of the Liberian community in Minnesota, covering a host of national and Diaspora issues.

On Tuesday Sept. 4, he will meet with leaders of North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) and Hennepin Technical College (HTC), the two widely-respected colleges based in Brooklyn Park. He will seek to reinforce existing efforts, mainly focused on transferring some of the technical expertise of the two institutions to Liberia, including the possibility of overhauling Booker Washington Institute (BWI), a major technical center in the war-torn country. He is also scheduled to participate in an ongoing conversation with both Brooklyn Park’s fire and police chiefs, all aimed at securing additional logistical and technical assets to support the rebuilding of Liberia’s fire safety and law enforcement infrastructures.

To crown his much-anticipated visit, Vice-President Boakai will, on Wednesday Sept. 5, headline a special appreciation dinner tendered in his honor by Brooklyn Park. There, he will recount how the partnership between this richly diverse city and the people and government of Liberia has grown to an unprecedented height, opening new doors of mutual opportunities and strengthening cherished cross-cultural ties.

Vice-President Boakai’s visit, which is in response to an official invitation from Mayor Jeffrey Lunde of Brooklyn Park, and the Kakata-Brooklyn Park Sister City Committee, represents an important milestone in the partnership. The Brooklyn Park City Council recently passed a unanimous resolution, establishing a Sister City relationship between the City of Kakata, Liberia, and the City of Brooklyn Park, Minn.

Rev. Alexander Collins, chairperson of the Kakata-Brooklyn Park Sister City Committee and head of the planning committee of the Vice-President’s visit to Minnesota, said: “In addition to Brooklyn Park, other cities, including Brooklyn Center, have expressed interest in building sister city relationships with many cities in Liberia.”

About Kakata-Brooklyn Park Sister City Committee:
The Kakata-Brooklyn Park Sister City Committee is an initiative of Redeemed Life Church, of Mounds View, Minnesota. Two years ago, Mayor Eddie Z. Murphy, Rev. Gbarngawoe Eddie Seyboe and the Margibi County Police Superintendent Douwue Goldoe, through the invitation of Redeemed Life Church, travelled to Minnesota, United States of America to strengthen scheduled Sister City dialogue. The Sister City Committee now represents a coalition of more than 20 community groups, including Redeemed Life Church, the Organization of Liberians in Minnesota (OLM), the Liberian Ministers Association (LMA), Liberian county and tribal organizations, and a growing number of Liberian-led social service organizations in Minnesota.

Media Contact:
Rev. Alexander Collins
Chairperson
Kakata--Brooklyn Park Sister City Committee
aandrcollins@comcast.net
952-212-2452

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