"I call upon other nations that have got debt with this vital country to follow our lead and to give this country a chance to succeed," Bush said as he met with Johnson-Sirleaf in the his office , their second meeting in a year.
The United States announced Tuesday that it was erasing Liberia's outstanding bilateral debt of about 391 million dollars to help the West African nation recover from a 1989-2003 civil war.
Bush warmly praised his guest, calling her his "friend," and noted that she had worried about her country's fate at their last meeting and asked for Washington's help.
"This meeting, there is no doubt in your mind that you can achieve your dreams. And I am impressed by your confidence, but more importantly, your deep concern for the people of Liberia . And so I pledge our ongoing help to you and your government," he said.
"Thank you very much for setting such a good example for not only the people of Liberia, but for the people around the world, that new democracies have got the capability of doing the hard work necessary to rout out corruption, to improve the lives of the citizens with infrastructure projects that matter," he said.
Johnson-Sirleaf praised Bush for his "strong support" and said Liberia had taken "important first steps" and that she hoped that debt forgiveness would set the stage for more progress.
"If we get the 3.7 billion dollar external debt off us, we can then access resources, we can expand the progress we've made, we can accelerate the implementation of all of our programs," she said.
She told reporters later that Bush had been "so warm and so helpful and so supportive. Our delegation goes back very pleased with a very strong relation ship between Liberia and the United States."
"We think the purpose of our being here has been largely achieved," she said.
Germany announced Wednesday at the end of a two-day conference of Liberia's donors in Washington that it would forgive Monrovia's 230-million-dollar debt to Berlin.
The United States announced Tuesday that it was erasing Liberia's outstanding bilateral debt of about 391 million dollars to help the West African nation recover from a 1989-2003 civil war.
Bush warmly praised his guest, calling her his "friend," and noted that she had worried about her country's fate at their last meeting and asked for Washington's help.
"This meeting, there is no doubt in your mind that you can achieve your dreams. And I am impressed by your confidence, but more importantly, your deep concern for the people of Liberia . And so I pledge our ongoing help to you and your government," he said.
"Thank you very much for setting such a good example for not only the people of Liberia, but for the people around the world, that new democracies have got the capability of doing the hard work necessary to rout out corruption, to improve the lives of the citizens with infrastructure projects that matter," he said.
Johnson-Sirleaf praised Bush for his "strong support" and said Liberia had taken "important first steps" and that she hoped that debt forgiveness would set the stage for more progress.
"If we get the 3.7 billion dollar external debt off us, we can then access resources, we can expand the progress we've made, we can accelerate the implementation of all of our programs," she said.
She told reporters later that Bush had been "so warm and so helpful and so supportive. Our delegation goes back very pleased with a very strong relation ship between Liberia and the United States."
"We think the purpose of our being here has been largely achieved," she said.
Germany announced Wednesday at the end of a two-day conference of Liberia's donors in Washington that it would forgive Monrovia's 230-million-dollar debt to Berlin.
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