The sub-regional organization, The Mano River Union that groups Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea begins a summit of Heads of State and government in the Liberian capital, Monrovia Thursday.

Disclosing this to journalists today, Presidential Press Secretary, Cyrus Badio said the summit begins at 10:00 AM. Thursday. Neighboring Cote d’Ivoire is expected to formally join the union as the fourth member.

Already in the country to attend the summit are Guinean Prime Minister Lansana Koyate; the President of the Economic Council of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Fologo, representing Laurent Gbabo; and President Ernest Bai Kromah of Sierra Leone.

There will be an opening ceremony at the Foreign Ministry, the temporary office of the Liberian President; thereafter the leaders will go in a closed door session

A State Dinner will be hosted by President Johnson Sirleaf later in the afternoon at the Monrovia City Hall.

Over the last few days, the Ministers of Security and Agriculture have been meeting to form an agenda for the Heads-of-State and Governments bordered on peace and security, strengthening of the secretariat and the economic issues, including food security.

Mr. Badio disclosed that the leaders of the Mano River Union will specifically discuss the looming food crisis in the sub-region and what concerted action can be taken to tackle this issue.

Another issue, Mr. Badio noted will be discuss is how do Mano River Union countries consolidate the peace especially as the UN begins a gradual drawdown plan from Liberia and what measures are to be put in place so that when the UN finally pulls out of this country the government will be able to stand on its own.

“Another issue that will come up is that of small arms trafficking. There is concern that there is trafficking of small arms in the sub-region and the leaders will be looking at what measures to take to tackle this issue,” the Presidential Press Secretary said.

On what came out during the meeting with the Mano River Agriculture Ministers, Mr. Badio said that they have agreed that mechanized farming is the way forward to reduce dependency on external import of rice and other food products.

“Right now, subsistence farming is what farmers are engaged in and this cannot go far enough, so unless our people engage in mechanized farming we cannot achieve food security,” he noted, adding that government will have to assist needy farmers to jumpstart agricultural activities in the Mano River Union.

The meeting is expected to end with a communiqué.