MONROVIA, Liberia -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was welcomed by sweltering humidity and a military band early Thursday morning as his plane touched down in Monrovia, the capital of the West African country of Liberia.
They rolled out the red carpet, a young girl gave him flowers, and a local chief presented him with a kola nut -- a traditional gift considered to be a symbol of respect.
Trudeau and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf then inspected a Liberian military guard of honour.
The fanfare is a far cry from what greeted Johnson Sirleaf during a visit to Ottawa nearly a decade ago, when former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper was apparently unaware she was even in town until she was introduced while sitting in the gallery overlooking the House of Commons.
The awkward moment in diplomacy speaks to the fact that Canada and Liberia have quite a limited relationship.
That had some observers scratching their heads when the Liberal government announced Trudeau would spend a day in Liberia during his first voyage to Africa as prime minister, instead of South Africa or another country with more influence.
Ian Smillie, a long-time Canadian development specialist who has written extensively about the violence linked to diamond mining in West Africa, said he is glad to see Canada taking an interest in Liberia, even if the economic benefits are not obvious.
"It is a fragile state whose fragility is due in part to the fact that nobody in the past century thought it was important enough to pay attention," Smillie said of Liberia, which was hit hard by the Ebola epidemic in recent years and is the site of an ongoing United Nations peacekeeping mission following civil conflict.
"If we are to get beyond failed, failing and fragile states, we need to stop thinking about Africa only in terms of the markets and investment opportunities they hold for Canada," said Smillie.
And for a prime minister who calls himself a feminist, Liberia serves as an ideal setting for Trudeau to highlight how the Liberal government has decided to put the empowerment of women and girls at the heart of its international development strategy.
Johnson Sirleaf, the first female elected head of state in Africa, has along with other women been recognized -- including with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 -- for her role in securing and maintaining peace following civil war.
"You redefined the 'front line' of a brutal civil conflict - women dressed in white, demonstrating in the streets - a barrier no warlord was brave enough to cross," Johnson Sirleaf said during her Nobel lecture in Oslo, Norway, addressing activist Leymah Gbowee, one of the women with whom she shared the award.
Trudeau will likely be hearing more about that Thursday afternoon, as he joins gender equality advocates for a roundtable on the leadership role that women can play in working for peace, security, governance and sustainable development.
He will also visit a local school.
Tanjina Mirza, chief programs officer at Plan International Canada, said working to empower girls and women in Liberia would go a long way to addressing the root causes of poverty and vulnerability in that country.
"It has a female president, but that empowerment has not trickled down to the community level," said Mirza.
Making it easier -- and desirable -- for girls to stay in school, for example, is one way to tackle the problem of early marriages, which Mirza said are more prevalent in some West African countries than anywhere else in the world.
She said providing sexual and reproductive health services is something else that could enable a girls and young women -- even if they do marry and become pregnant -- to continue their education.
Diana Sarosi, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam Canada, said rather than being given welfare, women in the developing world need to be empowered with the rights and the ability to improve their own conditions.
That is one reason why Oxfam Canada is calling on the federal government to dedicate $100 million in annual funding to feminist organizations and women's groups that provide the rights and advancement of women and girls in developing countries.
"Ultimately, they are the ones who are going to be addressing these issues," said Sarosi.
The government said Canada provided about $24 million in development assistance to Liberia in fiscal 2014-15, including support for the Global Fund, which provides bed nets to protect against malaria and drugs needed to treat HIV and tuberculosis.
Canada also gave more than $130 million as part of its response to the Ebola epidemic, which affected Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
