Spectacular Magazine - April 2014 (rev) | Page 19

AFRICA/ CARIBBEAN NEWS RALEIGH DURHAM AFRO-CARIBBEAN ASSOCIATION TO HOST CARIB MASK CARNIVAL s RALEIGH, NC - Donnae Ward (right) was crowned Miss CaribMask 2013 in August. She is the first recipient of the Miss CaribMask Scholarship. If you have a deep appreciation for the Afro-Caribbean culture, are interested in winning a scholarship and like to wear crowns, you could be the next Miss CaribMask 20142015. If you are interested, please fill out the application at www.. Join the ranks of carnival queens all around the world. FIGHTING FOR LIBERIA’S FUTURE – ONE ISSUE AT A TIME — A Conversation with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf By Reed Kramer & Tami Hultman DUBAI, UAE - In her second and final six-year term as Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has continued a heavy schedule of international travel, despite seemingly intractable challenges at home. It is an uneasy balance, she acknowledges – courting international investment and aid while struggling with a fractious democracy still scarred by a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced two-thirds of the population, and destroyed nearly all the country’s infrastructure. After attending the Africa-Arab Summit in Kuwait in December 2013, Johnson Sirleaf visited Dubai, where she sat down with AllAfrica’s Reed Kramer and Tami Hultman to discuss her priorities and principles. Here are some exerpts from that interview (www.allafrica.com) Note: Questions in bold; Responses in italics Madam President, what do ties in this region mean to Liberia? In Kuwait there was an opportunity to meet with leaders of the Arab world, who are increasingly good partners to Liberia. The same thing continues in Dubai, where conversation is ongoing between the Dubai Port Authority and our National Port Authority, whose managing director [Matilda Parker] is on the mission. We were honored to meet with the Emir and discuss possible collaboration between Dubai and Liberia in several areas, and with bankers - in terms of financial support of investment and development. So this trip is meant to promote more cooperation. You’ve made job creation a top priority, so why does unemployment remain such a challenge? The private sector and the substantial amount of direct foreign investment - over $1 ؁