The Minister of Agriculture Dr. J. Alexander Nuetahhas confirmed that the Government has stopped Guinea unprocessed robbers from passing through the Liberia corridor through the Freeport of Monrovia for onward shipment.

Nuetah said the decision to stop robbers from Guinea follows an Executive Order from the President of Liberia to place a moratorium on all unprocessed robbers from Liberia. Executive Order ( EO) 166, banned all natural unprocessed robbers from leaving Liberia.

The EO further went on to say that in Section 3: part E, that violation of this EO shall include shipment through Liberian Ports of unprocessed rubber originating from another country.

This line, according to trade experts, completely put a ban on transshipment rubber which is a breach of International treaties that Liberia signed unto to facilitate free trade. This also means that Liberia is not in compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) mandate.

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Research indicates that Liberia is a party to several international and regional trade agreements that provide for, or recognize, the transit of goods originating from other countries.

These include the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework, particularly Article V of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which provides for freedom of transit; the ECOWAS Inter-State Road Transit Convention; the Revised ECOWAS Treaty, particularly its provisions on freedom of transit and regional economic integration; the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework; and the Mano River Union (MRU) framework on regional cooperation and trade facilitation.

Against this background, could the current policy or action being taken by your Ministry potentially conflict with Liberia's obligations under any of these international or regional trade instruments?

The investigation further uncovered that this is the first time for Liberia to take such action against regional trade; the previous administration placed a similar moratorium on unprocessed robbers from Liberia but that didn't include trans-shippment robbers. The question now is, what has changed to warrant the current policy?

The situation is now causing serious regional trade crises between Liberia and its neighbors, and some traders are accusing Liberia of being too harsh and unfriendly to regional trade.

Customs officials also indicated that the situation is causing drops in revenue collection at the liberia- guinea border. Truck owners are also complaining that the situation is affecting their businesses because they are no longer making money from transportation.