The executive chairman of Produce Monitoring Board, Dr. James Vibbi met with the Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Mr. Wu Peng on Monday, 14th January 2019 at the Chinese Embassy in Freetown. The meeting was geared towards instituting plans and strategies on how to collaborate and partner, to increase investment in the produce sector in Sierra Leone. The Ambassador indicated that he was happy to receive the Executive Chairman and also happy that he (the Executive Chairman) was proactive to take steps to reach out to the Chinese Embassy. The Executive Chairman indicate his determination to raise the profile of Produce Monitoring Board by engaging both internal and external players to bring much-needed investment to the produce sector, to promote and improve the marketing of produce in order to optimize the export earnings of farmers, encourage the processing of produce locally here in Sierra Leone with the aim of adding value to them for export and for local consumption.
The Chinese Ambassador promised to work with the PMB by luring credible Chinese private investors to the produce sector in Sierra Leone and also assured that the Chinese Embassy is keen to collaboratively work with PMB to help increase its effectiveness and efficiency.
As an internal action, the Chinese Ambassador asked the Executive Chairman and his team to send a list of testing equipment that the PMB currently needed to test the quality of produce, especially for cocoa, coffee, and cashew. The Ambassador also agreed to support the setting up of mini-laboratory at the PMB for testing of produce.