Prominent Liberal Leaders Open LI 58th Congress in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

The opening ceremony of LI 58th Congress was dominated by a variety of passionate speeches
presented by prominent liberal leaders such as His Excellency the President of the Republic of Cote
d'IvoireAlassane Ouattara, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Senegal Macky Sall, LI
President Hans Van Baalen MEP, Hon. Lindiwe Mazibuko MP (DA, South Africa) and Hon. Sam
Rainsy (Sam Rainsy Party, Cambodia). Addressing the participants of the Congress President Ouattara
said: The friendship and confidence of the Liberal family have always been for us, the Ivorian
Democrats, a great source of motivation during the struggle for the establishment of democracy in our
country. President Sall spoke of the common ideology of liberalism or humanist liberalism stressing
that both himself and President Ouattara are proud to share the same ideology. LI President Van Baalen
thanked President Ouattara for hosting the Congress and emphasized that all liberals belong
together. The Congress was closed by the Grand Chancellor of Cote d'Ivoire SEM Henriette Dagri
Diabate who noted that LI 58th Congress in Abidjan has been an opportunity for the liberals in Africa to
come together and reflect on the major strategic orientations guiding their work.

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LI Congress Theme Report Reflects on Private Investment and Social Responsibility

In an interview session chaired by Professor Ibrahim Lipumba (CUF,Tanzania) Ovidio Diaz

Espino (Fundacion Libertad, Panama) presented the LI 58th Congress Theme Report on behalf
of Ricardo Lopez Murphy by reflecting on the original concept of the paper which had identified
fourteen key elements that trigger the successful social inclusion in economic development. Mr. Espino,
who is a corporate lawyer and a former Wall Street investment banker, built on the report by stressing
that poverty in developing countries is not a question of failing markets, but rather a question of
introducing markets where there are none. He concluded by explaining that the international
community has to be wary of debt-fuelled growth as loans are necessary to fund state projects, but
countries don't need straitjackets. The theme resolution for the Congress goes along the same line as
LI has called on the governments of its members to build trust in state institutions through open
democratic governance and the rule of law, by respecting property rights and fighting corruption in
public life, and by the fair, transparent and predictable application of the law.

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LI Welcomes New Members and Leadership

Liberal International is pleased to report that at the 58th Congress in Abidjan LI welcomed a large
number of 10 new member organisations within its ranks. Alliance Dmocratique pour le
Renouveau (Burundi),Sam Rainsy Party (Cambodia), the Partido Patriota (Guatemala), thePartido
Nueva Alianza (Mexico), the Civil Will Green Party (Mongolia) and the Partido Liberal Radical
Autntico (Paraguay) have been upgraded to Full Membership. New Observer member organisations
are the Botswana Movement for Democracy (Botswana), Partido de la U (Colombia), Free Egyptian's
Party (Egypt), Ethiopian Democratic Party (Ethiopia), the Union des Forces Dmocratiques de
Guine and the Union des Forces Rpublicaines (both from Guinea), the Future
Movement (Lebanon), Partido para a Paz, Democrcia e Desenvolvimento (Mozambique), Partido
Liberal Independiente(Nicaragua) and Ukraine of the Future (Ukraine). The Congress re-elected Hans
van Baalen MEP as LI President for a third final mandate, and included new members to the
Bureau: Lord Rennard(LibDems, UK), Markus Loening (FDP, Germany) and Tim Harris MP (DA, South
Africa) as Vice Presidents, and Sidi Toure (RDR, Cote d'Ivoire) as Treasurer. A full list of Vice Presidents is
availableonline.

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Strong Statement on Syria Included Among Adopted Resolutions

At the Congress Administrative Session of the Liberal International's 58th Congress in Abidjan the
assembled representatives of the member organisations adopted several new policy documents
contributing to the political acquis of LI. All adopted resolutions can be found here. The documents
include a renewed version of the World Today Resolution, the Theme Resolution on 'Promoting Private
Investment and Enhancing Social Responsibility' and 11 other political resolutions on issues ranging
from a nuclear-free policy for the Artic to improvement of maternal health all around the world. The
World Today Resolution includes a much debated statement on the developing situation in Syria. Since
the beginning of the conflict Liberal International has been very much outspoken, calling for the doctrine
of Responsibility to Protect to be enforced by the international community and on the UN to refer the
crimes committed in Syria to the ICC. The resolution on Syria was followed up by a Presidential
statement on Lebanon in which LI called for a formation of a government of pro-Lebanese forces.LI
Bureau Members Dr Juli Minoves-Triquell,Robert Woodthorpe Browne and Josep Soler chaired the
different discussion sessions on the resolutions, which featured more than 150 amendments tabled by
the various LI member organisations.

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Congress Panels on the Future of Africas Economies

On Saturday Liberal International organised two political panel discussions open to all Congress
participants. The first panel on 'Achieving development & growth: private investment vs. aid' was
chaired by Hon. Alice Nzomukunda, President of the Alliance Dmocratique pour le
Renouveau (Burundi), and featured former Head of Ivorian Bank Mr Tiemoko Yade, former European
Commission for Development and Humanitarian Aid Hon. Louis Michel MEP fromMouvement
Rformateur (Belgium), Hon. Kerstin Lundgren MP fromCenterpartiet (Sweden) and Hon. Han ten
Broeke MP from VVD(Netherlands). The second panel, titled 'Can Africa be more competitive than Asia
or Latin America?', was chaired by the Secretary-General of theRassemblement des Rpublicains from
Cte d'Ivoire Mr Amadou Soumahoro and featured the Ivorian Minister of Industry Mr Moussa Dosso,
Board Member of the Partido Nueva Alianza from Mexico Mr Constantino Gonzalez Alcocer, Vice-
President of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan Hon. Maysing Yang and Hon. Annemie Neyts
MEP, Minister of State and former leader of LI and ELDR from Open VLD from Belgium.

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LI HRC Convenes in Abidjan to Discuss LGBT Rights

The LI Human Rights Committee convened for its 4th meeting in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire in the context of
LI 58th Congress to discuss LGBT rights with local activists and liberals from around the world. The
session was chaired by Markus Loening, Federal Commissioner for Human Rights (FDP, Germany) and
newly elected Vice President on the LI Bureau. Speakers included Naomi Blumenthal, Former Deputy
Minister for National Infrastructure (Israeli Liberal Group), Danko Runic, Director of the Agency for
European Integration of the City of Belgrade (LDP, Serbia), Frank Van Dalen, Coordinator of the LGBT
Rights working group within the LI HRC (VVD, Netherlands) and representatives from two local LGBT
Rights NGOs: Alternative Cote d'Ivoire and ARC EN CIEL PLUSrespectively. Both panellists and
participants reached the conclusion that more information is needed on the causes of homophobia in
the first place so that discrimination against LGBT individuals is tackled in a solution-oriented way. The
panel was preceded by the administrative session of LI HRC where among other issues LI HRC Chair and
Vice-President on the LI Bureau,Abir Al-Sahlani MP, presented the conclusions of the questionnaire on
the work of the Committee.

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LI Prize for Freedom 2012 Awarded to Colin Eglin; LI Holds 189th EC Meeting
At a dinner ceremony at the LI 58th Congress in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire,Colin Eglin was awarded the 2012
LI Prize for Freedom. Mr. Eglin is a former leader of the South African liberals and he is also one of the
founders of the Africa Liberal Network (LI cooperating organisation) and a patron of Liberal
International. He is a true champion of human rights having fought tirelessly for the abolition of the
apartheid in South Africa and having contributed to the democratic South African Constitution.
Commenting on the occasion Mr. Eglin said: I hope to have peace, prosperity and freedom for many
years to come. The Congress recommended Mr. Dick Marty (nominated by LI full
memberDemokratesch Partei from Luxembourg) as the 2013 LI Prize for Freedom recipient. As a
member of the Liberal Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr. Marty has
devoted his entire career to fighting human rights abuses having exposed the secret prisons of the CIA
and various organ trafficking channels in Kosovo. The awarding ceremony was preceded by the 189th LI
EC Meeting where various issues were discussed among which the new LI website which should be fully
functional by 1 January 2013.

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ALN Holds General Assembly in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire; Elects New Leadership

The Africa Liberal Network (ALN LI cooperating organisation) held its General Assembly in Abidjan.
This saw the election of a new Executive Committee, the adoption of resolutions on Mali and Cote
d'Ivoire, and four new parties joining the network. The ALN welcomed the parties of two former
Guinean Prime Ministers, UFDG of Cello Dalein Diallo, and UFR of Sidya Tour, (both LI observer
members), as well as the governing party of Somaliland, KULMIYE, and Alliance Nationale pour les
Comores (ANC). Commenting on his election as ALN President, Hon. Olivier Kamitatu, former Minister
of Planning in DRC, said: The ALN has never been as dynamic as it is today No one can doubt that the
values of liberalism increasingly penetrate Africa and that ALN is a symbol of hope for a greater number
of young Africans Under my leadership, ALN will work to ensure that liberalism flourishes here in
Africa, and I will do all I can to support our members to build their capacity, win elections, and
implement liberal policies.