The Polish Ambassador designate to the Republic of Sierra Leone, Mrs. Joanna Tarnawska on Wednesday, 19th June, 2019 presented copies of her Letters of Credence to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Solomon J. Jamiru Esq, at his Tower Hill Office in Freetown.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs. Tarnawska expressed her excitement to be assigned as Polish Ambassador to Sierra Leone. She stated that Poland and Sierra Leone are far away in terms of geographic location, but have common values.
The Polish Ambassador designate to Sierra Leone said her government is committed to strengthen and deepen the bilateral ties with the Government of Sierra Leone, adding that Sierra Leone was among the first one hundred countries to sign the Warsaw treaty in Poland.
Speaking on her country’s interest of cooperation, Mrs. Joanna Tarnawska said her country is interested to cooperate with Sierra Leone on the basis that, Sierra Leone is recognized as one of the growing democratic nations in the world. She said that there are many areas of cooperation that her country is interested in, including education, cleaning, transportation, technology and many others.
She maintained that her country has also developed cooperation in different sectors like education, teaching aid, firefighting, rescue crises including landslide and car accidents.
In his response speech, the Hon. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Solomon J. Jamiru Esq welcomed the Ambassador Designate to the country and the Ministry, adding that Poland is a great nation in central Europe.
He noted that Poland is a member of a lot of multilateral agencies including UN, NATO and Schengen that have strategic global significance.
Responding to the Ambassador’s country interest of cooperation, Hon. Solomon Jamiru said, the two countries will have to look at areas of cooperation that could benefit both peoples.
He informed the Ambassador Designate that, His Excellency the President Julius Maada Bio for the first time in the history of this country, has set up a Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, to ensure students who study Mathematics, Science and Technology in the Universities of Sierra Leone would attract government support and free tuition.
Deputy Minister Jamiru Esq also noted that Poland has evolved when it comes to Public Postal Service, and would have to help develop that sector with Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone he maintained, has a Postal System that has gone through a lot of challenges and that it is at a point wherein they needed to borrow best practice and perhaps support in the area of resources, technical resources in order to transform the country’s Postal Services into providing financial services.
This, he concluded is the time for the two countries to deepen and strengthen their bilateral ties.
In another engagement, the Hon. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Solomon J. Jamiru Esq. on Thursday, 20th June, 2019 presented two Ambassadors and a High Commissioner Designate to Sierra Leone, to His Excellency Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio to present their Letters of Credence at the State House in Freetown.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday 18^th June, 2018 held a three-day seminar to develop Operational Policies and Practices for Foreign Missions to address Critical Challenges at the Golden Tulip Kimbima Hotel Conference Room, Aberdeen, Freetown.

Giving the objectives of the seminar, the newly appointed Acting Director General, Mr. Al-Hassan Karamoh Kondeh said, the seminar was to enable the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be more effective and efficient in its service delivery, position the Ministry to actively contribute to the success of the New Direction’s Government Medium term National Development Plan and improve the tripartite relationship among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sierra Leone Missions abroad and the Ministry of Finance.

The Principal Deputy Financial Secretary (PDFS) at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Mathew Dingie in his statement said his Ministry collaborated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have frank discussions in supporting the Foreign Missions to meet the management of their fiduciary duties. The PDFS said the challenges faced by those Missions abroad are not insurmountable and that they can be tackled by prioritizing them and agreeing on a broad framework.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Foreign Service, Hon. Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah talked about career diplomats and noted that his Committee believed in appointing 40% of Career Diplomats to Missions abroad calling on the two Ministries to give credence to timely payment of the country’s membership dues to its member’s organizations. He called on the Government through the Hon. Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh to manage the careers of the country’s diplomats who are in multilateral institutions to get their level positions. He maintained that, as a Committee responsible for foreign affairs, they will ensure that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation performs extremely well in its service delivery.

In her statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Mrs. Nabeela Tunis said as a Ministry they have discovered that, in order for them to perform effectively and efficiently depend not only on the finances but the commitment and passion of each and every staff assigned to the Ministry, including Ambassadors and High Commissioners that are representing the country abroad.

To achieve this,  she said, they have targeted as a first step to define the country’s foreign Policy, a policy she stated, that tells the world how the country will relate to other countries, what is the government stance on Climate Change, issues of Migration and how they are working towards attracting more trade and less aid. Minister Tunis assured the gathering that, as a Government and Ministry, they have been advocating for more Sierra Leonean representations at multilateral organizations and that as a Ministry, they believed that, the more the representation, the more benefits they will have as a country.

In the area of Career Diplomats, Madam Minister Tunis said her ministry is quite concerned that as a country they don’t have a pool of career diplomats adding that her Ministry is presently working on the policy on Career Diplomats to represent the country in the global arena. She urged all the participants to contribute meaningfully in order to have an effective and efficient Ministry. She concluded that the issues of Career Diplomats, Protocol, communications and the positive image of the country are pivotal in their administration.

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Jacob Jusu Saffa talked on the policy position of government which he said is to position the Foreign Missions abroad so that they will be of benefit to the country; and that, from the Ministry of Finance’s perspective, the policy of Government is effective and efficient management of the limited resources. Minister Saffa also threw light on the issue of accountability of visas issued at the overseas Missions, payment of the country’s membership dues and the random employment of local staff by the Missions abroad.

Delivering the Keynote address at the seminar, the Hon. Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to be more proactive in the discharge of its state functions and to also expedite the processing of correspondences and ensure swift acknowledgement and response to correspondence. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Nabeela Tunis on Monday 10^th June, 2019 interacted with members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps at her Ministry’s main Conference Hall, Tower Hill in Freetown. Welcoming the diplomat and consular corps, the New Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Al-Hassan Kondeh thanked the diplomats and assured them of the Ministry’s commitment to work with them.

In her statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Mrs. Nabeela Tunis thanked the guests for their congratulatory messages upon her appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. She assured them of her commitments with the entire team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to achieve the shared goals of their respective countries. 

“We are willing to learn, listen and share ideas on matters of common interest to us all. My tenure will be characterized by the consolidation of Sierra Leone’s diplomatic relations driven by trust, accountability and most importantly respect for sovereignty and country systems.” She stated. She maintained that meeting the diplomatic community in Sierra Leone was among the first tasks that came to her mind since her appointment as the Minister; expressing hope that the meeting would set the stage for a structured and cooperative exchange.   

“Our President has spoken in great length about the development targets outlined in The Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) during the two state openings of parliament to reiterate his commitment to driving these national development goals forward. I kindly ask that you all take a look at these developments targets and try to align your individual and collective interventions with them” she added.

She concluded that, as Sierra Leone prepares for life beyond aid, the government has identified attracting private sector investors as a key to the country’s development; adding that she had just returned from the UK with H E, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, where they attended the UK-Sierra Leone Investment conference with businesses, private entrepreneurs, and British Government Officials and discussed Sierra Leone as a plausible destination for investment.

The Ambassador of Egypt, H.E. Maher Al-Mahdi Al-Sayed, on behalf of all other ambassadors and high commissioners present thanked the Minister for the invitation. He promised their full cooperation towards contributing to Sierra Leones’s development and assured the Minister and her Deputy of the diplomatic community’s continued support to Sierra Leone. 

The United Nations Resident Coordinator, David. McLachlan to Sierra Leone in his response, warmly congratulated the Minister and the newly appointed Deputy Minister and Director General. He expressed assurance that the United Nation (UN) would continue to work with the Government to achieve its development aspirations. He reiterated that the job of the United Nations in SL is to support the government in promoting the development of the country and improving the lives of Sierra Leoneans.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Solomon J. Jamiru in his remarks noted favorably the congratulatory messages and kind sentiment from the international community and applauded them for their very strong indication of support and cooperation on a broad range of issues. He thanked the international community for the consolidation of democracy, peace and security in Sierra Leone and for supporting growth of the country’s economy. He urged the international community to continue to stand in solidarity with Sierra Leone and assured the gathering that, their thoughts, perspectives and comments expressed were favorably noted.