Liberia’s fisheries regulator is using a World Bank-backed project, which has now disbursed more than 80% of its funds, as a springboard to court private investors in aquaculture, fish processing, and cold storage, arguing the sector can create jobs and keep more of its value at home if infrastructure gaps are closed.
J. Cyrus Saygbe Sr., director general of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, made that case to Valerie Hickey, director for environment and blue economy at the World Bank Group, during talks on the sidelines of the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok.
The discussions centered on the Liberia Sustainable Management of Fisheries Project and the investment needed to turn its gains into wider economic opportunity.
Saygbe briefed Hickey on progress under the project in fisheries management, aquaculture development and livelihood support, as well as preparations for major infrastructure investments. He said disbursement had passed 80% and stressed the need to keep implementation moving.
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Continued financing for infrastructure, productive capacity and fisheries value chains, Saygbe said, would consolidate those gains and open the way for greater private sector participation.
He pointed to commercial openings in aquaculture, fish processing, cold storage, transportation, fisheries infrastructure and related services. Closing infrastructure gaps and improving the business environment, he said, would allow investors to set up and expand enterprises while more of the sector’s economic value stays in Liberia.
Saygbe said investment must bring practical benefits to Liberians, particularly women and young people, through jobs, enterprise development, higher productivity and better incomes in fisheries-dependent communities. He added that sustainable fisheries management and expanded aquaculture could boost the sector’s contribution to national growth, food and nutrition security, and economic diversification.
Hickey praised the project’s progress, describing its implementation as a remarkable turnaround, and urged that momentum be sustained through continued collaboration and investment.
She also stressed the private sector’s role in driving growth and creating jobs, and the need for conditions that allow businesses to invest, innovate, expand production and hire.
The two sides agreed that strategic public investment and private enterprise must work together in the sector. They said investment in infrastructure, institutional capacity, sustainable resource management, and value addition would strengthen investor confidence and support more productive and competitive fisheries businesses.
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The meeting reaffirmed cooperation between the Government of Liberia and the World Bank Group to consolidate the project’s results and explore opportunities for expanded investment.
NaFAA said it remains committed to turning Liberia’s fisheries and aquaculture potential into sustainable businesses, better livelihoods and jobs while protecting the resources that sustain fishing communities.
