Former US president Bill Clinton is expected to arrive in Liberia today for a meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. President Clinton recently visited southern Africa with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to assess the HIV/AIDS situation. Cyrus Badio is spokesman for Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; he told Voice of America English to Africa reporter James Butty about the purpose of former president Clinton’s visit to Liberia.
“President Clinton is visiting Liberia as part of his efforts to spread his message of combating the spread of AIDS on the continent of Africa and in Liberia in particular. President Clinton will be holding discussions with President Sirleaf at the Executive Mansion, and following that the president will meet with some young people at the parlors of the Executive Mansion. They will be discussing issues which of course concern the young people most, especially in the areas relating to the AIDS epidemic in Liberia.”
Cyrus says the two presidents will also sign an agreement.
“They will be signing a memorandum of understanding, and that action will see the introduction of the Clinton AIDS Foundation in Liberia. This will really give a major boost to our AIDS program. It is expected that the Clinton Foundation under the AIDS program will be working with our health ministry in a cooperative venture and that will surely add impetus to the government’s efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic in this country.”
While Cyrus says there are no specific figures on the prevalence of AIDS in Liberia, he says there has been an alarming increase in the AIDS epidemic in Liberia.
Cyrus says he is not sure if Microsoft founder Bill Gates will be visiting Liberia along with President Clinton.
“We are not sure about that, but what I can tell is that the vice president, Mr. Boikai, was in South Africa recently and met with Mr. Bill Gates. Mr. Gates is very much interested in the educational area in this country, especially as it relates to information technology.”
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