Transport Minister Angela Cassell Bush and WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud in talks

On the side-line of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, Liberia’s Transport Minister, Angela Cassell Bush, held talks with the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Michel Jarraud.

The main purpose of the meeting was to seek WMO’s technical assistance to support the Government of Liberia to rehabilitate the meteorological services of the country through the ongoing Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the UNDP Early Warning System Project.

During the meeting, Minister Cassell Bush drew the attention of the WMO Secretary General to the need to consider the cancellation of Liberia’s debt to the WMO in the amount of almost half a million US dollars.

Mr. Jarraud informed Minister Cassell Bush that Liberia’s request will be taken to the WMO Congress for consideration, and also informed her to explore other options through bilateral and multilateral means.

Liberia’s debt to the organization is as a result of arrears that the Government of Liberia had not paid for almost twenty years. This had led Liberia to lose her voting rights at WMO.

He thanked the minister for her tremendous effort in rehabilitating the meteorological services of Liberia and assured her of WMO’s readiness to support the strengthening of meteorological services in the country.

During the Meeting, The WMO Secretary General informed Minister Cassell Bush that WMO had concluded an agreement with the Nigeria Meteorological Agency to assist some African countries including Liberia to train local weather experts to report to the public on weather information on a daily basis through mobile phone, radio and television services.

The Ministry of Transport is the statutory arm of the Government of Liberia that is responsible for meteorological services in the country.