Chairman of Westminster Group, a London-based company, the Right Hon. Sir Tony Baldry has told journalists that he is in town to see how the company is moving and to look at ways to continue investing in the country.
He said Westminster is a British owned company with all the shareholders being British and the company is listed in the London Stock Exchange, and they are operating in about 50 countries across the world.
“We started operating in Sierra Leone in 2012 when the country was in dire need of a profession company to handle the ground handling of the Lungi airport. At that time we sent in 30 experts to work with Sierra Leoneans and today only three are still in the country adhering to the Local Content Policy.”
Hon. Tony Baldry said they have spent millions of Pounds to raise the handling standard of the airport and today the airport is safe and with less complaints of stealing luggage. He said they will continue to invest in modern equipment and sniffer dogs because wherever they work they believe in giving quality and adhering to standard.
He said he met with President Bio and Vice President Juldeh Bah as he said he cannot come to Sierra Leone and doesn’t meet with the President to discuss on how his company can help in the development process of the country.
“Discussing with President Bio was an opportunity as we talked about how to modernize the airport, how we can work on bringing down the ticket prices, to get direct flights from London to Sierra Leone, ecotourism and how we can help in the investment conference next month in London.”
Hon. Tony Baldry said the Government and Westminster will start talks soon on how they can reduce the price of tickets so that it can be at par with other Mano River Union countries so that Sierra Leone too will be competitive.
“On my return I will look for flights that will start operating between London and Sierra Leone as presently there is no direct flight between the two countries. I will try and all my best to make sure that we get cheap flight to operate this route. Today in Uganda and Kenya ecotourism is doing very well and I am sure it will be the same for Sierra Leone, so it is another area that we will pursue to help the tourism sector grow in the country.”
The Chairman said they are the only British company working in Saudi Arabia and Iran and they have partners in Saudi Arabia for ecotourism that they will talk to for them to come and invest in Sierra Leone. He said Sierra Leone has all it takes to develop ecotourism in the country and he is determined to see it grow in Sierra Leone.
“I was told by the President of the investment conference to be held next month in London that Sierra Leone is a prominent participant. We discussed at length on how Westminster will be of immense help to work with the Sierra Leone High Commission in London to make sure the conference is successful. As we are one of two British companies in Sierra Leone, we would be at a vantage point to entice more British companies to come and invest in Sierra Leone. We will do all in our power to make sure that this investment conference becomes successful that will see more British companies coming to invest.”
When asked about the atmosphere in Sierra Leone for investors, Hon Tony Baldry said if the atmosphere was not conducive, Westminster will not be here. He said in every country there are challenges, but those challenges are always overcome. He said with more investment in the country it will create more job opportunities, services and products for the people.
The Chairman averred that Sierra Leone is open for business and the President is doing all in his power to attract more investors in various areas. He said they will look at other areas like agriculture also to invest and he will not relent to help bring investors into the country.
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