Day: April 4, 2023

The European Union (EU) and Ethiopia have a strong partnership in development, trade, and investment and is ready to further strengthen, EU Head of Delegation to Ethiopia Ambassador Roland Kobia said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ambassador Kobia said that the European Union and Ethiopia are bound together by history, culture, and people-to-people relations for centuries.

The existing cooperation is very strong and the EU member states are present here and are very active, he added.

The relationship between Ethiopia and the EU is not a donor recipient relationship, the ambassador said.

“It is real partnership that we are looking at; a partnership that covers political dynamics, but also development and social considerations,” he elaborated.

In addition to the support being provided by the European Union, member states are also developing huge efforts to help Ethiopia in a spirit of partnership.

The EU has been traditionally one of the very first partners to contribute not only for development aid, but also for trade and investments, Ambassador Kobia stated, adding “So I think it is important to acknowledge the sustainability and the coherence in our action over decades.”

According to him, the EU is engaged in human aspect projects mainly in social sectors including education and health.

He mentioned about the 9 billion Birr project agreement signed few weeks ago to support the education and health sector noting that the cooperation of EU and Ethiopia will further be strengthened in the future in various sectors.

“And in the next weeks, we will sign another about 9.5 to 10 billion Ethiopian Birr extra for these sectors also in water, IDPs but also to accompany enterprises. So social sectors is really the social fabric, which has a political element of reconciliation between the people is really a priority for the EU. We also had agriculture as another priority because Ethiopia is a farming country and we see all the efforts that are being done in Oromia and we are trying to help this within the overall context of the green deal or the climate change to help Ethiopia address the challenges that are coming,” Kobia pointed out.

Ethiopia benefits from the Everything But Arms (EBA), he stated, and said the EU has never suspended its preferential trade regime that it is offering to Ethiopia.

EBA is an initiative of the EU under which all imports to the EU from the Least Developed Countries are duty-free and quota-free, with the exception of armaments.

“If you put all this together, development aid, humanitarian aid, I should mention also trades, investments, loans that are the European Investment Bank is granted to Ethiopia and if you put everything of that in a package, you’ve got a massive support in our partnership with and for Ethiopia,” he stressed.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The cooperation and relationship between Ethiopia and Russia will develop to a greater extent in various spheres, Ambassador Evgeny Terekhin said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ambassador Evgeny Terekhin stressed that Ethiopia and Russia have always been very reliable and very good friends despite political and historical changes.

“Our two peoples have always kept the feeling of mutual understanding, mutual support, and mutual trust between them,” he noted.

The ambassador further stated that it is not only the feeling “but the mutual support in practical terms in different fields. And I am absolutely sure that this cooperation, this relationship and interaction will develop further and even at a higher pace.”

Citing the importance of the peace process in Ethiopia, Ambassador Terekhin noted that peace is the basis for any development.

“We are happy that the Ethiopian government has made such great progress and we are supporting the efforts of the Ethiopian government. We wish the best success in this direction and we are always ready and willing to help as much as we can.”

Regarding the cooperation in science and technology, he underlined that the Ethiopian and Russian cooperation is very vital.

“We concentrate on the vital areas. We focus on areas of science and technology that bring practical results to the development of agriculture, geology, and many other areas.”

With regarding to space cooperation, the ambassador said Russia is thinking about how to make space technologies to serve concrete practical interests of Ethiopia.

According to him, Russian science and research institutions which specialize in space technologies, especially in the geospatial sphere, have a number of proposals to develop; especially Ethiopian geological research, resilience in agriculture, proper use of water resources, and a lot of other areas that are very important for the national economic projects.

Recall that the two countries agreed to continue strengthening their relations in terms of international diplomacy, economy, trade, science and technology during the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen received the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations in Ethiopia, Catherine Sozi, at his office today.

During the meeting, Demeke briefed the resident coordinator on current affairs, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He also expressed keenness of the Government of Ethiopia to further enhance cooperation with the United Nations and its agencies.

With special emphasis on the peace consolidation process, he expressed the continued commitment of the Government to see the national dialogue, the transitional justice, the national reconciliation as well as the rehabilitation and reconstruction of affected regions through.

He has also called on donor agencies and UN aid agencies, in particular, to support the humanitarian assistance efforts of the Ethiopian Government.

Catherine Sozi for her part congratulated the Government of Ethiopia for cementing the peace agreement.

She said the Pretoria Peace Agreement is a landmark accord that took everyone by surprise.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Ethiopians in the Diaspora have called on Egypt to change its counterproductive posture and find mutually beneficial agreements on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In a statement the diaspora issued yesterday, they noted that Ethiopia is the main source of the Nile by contributing 86 percent of the water to the Nile basin states while utilizing less than 1 percent of the potential for hydroelectric power.

Ethiopians are currently building the GERD on the Blue Nile that is financed entirely by Ethiopians and is a crucial project for the country’s development as it will provide clean, renewable energy and lift millions out of poverty.

About 65 percent of the 122 million of Ethiopia’s population have no access to any form of electricity. The much-needed electricity will facilitate economic growth for Ethiopia and the region, the statement elaborated.

The dam will promote regional cooperation and integration while offering opportunity for eleven countries of the Nile Basin to work together to manage the river’s resources more efficiently and effectively, it added.

The GERD is being built with the highest environmental and technical standards to achieve the objectives of the national electrification program and the execution of Ethiopia’s Climate-Resilient Green Economy Strategy.

According to the statement, Ethiopia has provided scientific evidence and expert testimonies that GERD will not significantly affect the flow of water downstream, and provided compelling arguments for the need for equitable use of the Nile’s resources by all countries in the region.

The diaspora further said they understand that the GERD has raised concerns in Egypt about the downstream effects on the Nile’s flow and water availability since Egyptians have been misinformed about the GERD for many years.

But on the contrary, the dam will provide several benefits to Egypt and Sudan, including increased water flow during dry seasons and decreased flooding events.

“We want to assure Egyptians that Ethiopians are committed to fair and equitable use of the Nile’s waters without harming our downstream neighbors. We recognize that the Nile River is a shared resource, and we support finding a mutually beneficial solution.”

As Ethiopians in the Diaspora, we reiterate our support for fair and equitable use of the Nile River and call on the Egyptian people and Egyptian Diaspora to question the misinformation about the GERD in Egypt’s mainstream media and embrace the spirit of friendship and cooperation by understanding that the GERD is a project of great national importance to Ethiopians that will benefit Egyptians by ensuring a reliable and predictable supply of water, that Ethiopians have the right to use their water resources for the development of its people and economy, in accordance with the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization without causing significant harm.

Efforts to destabilize Ethiopia by the regime in Egypt, will indeed affect the historical and diplomatic relations dating back to several thousand years, the long-term interest of the Egyptian people and make Ethiopians less trusting in cooperating on the GERD and future hydropower projects on the Nile, they warned.

The diaspora groups urged Egyptian leaders to engage in constructive dialogue with the leaders of Ethiopia regarding the GERD and steer away from their counterproductive posture of calling for a “binding agreement” on the GERD filling and the subsequent operations as an imposing instrument on water sharing that Ethiopians will never accept. The GERD can be a source of cooperation and collaboration between our two countries rather than a source of conflict, they underscored.

“Ethiopians believe that, through dialogue and understanding, peaceful and equitable agreements that benefit all parties involved can be realized to build a brighter future for all people in the Nile basin. Belligerent positions by Egyptian leaders stating ‘all options are open’ are contrary to the spirit of the 2015 Declaration of Principles signed by Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.”

According to the statement, such postures will surely harm Egypt’s long-term interest and impede trustful cooperation with the Ethiopian people and government.

They asked Arab League and its member states to refrain from interfering in the issue of the GERD, which is the sole concern of the three riparian countries (Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt) and their shared regional organization (the African Union), which is mediating the talks to find ‘African Solutions to African Problems.’

The issues remaining on the table at the trilateral negotiations under the auspices of the African Union are being narrowed to a handful of critical matters on equity and justice, on which the Arab league nations have no business or legal right to be involved.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The House of Peoples’ Representatives of Ethiopia (HPRE) has today approved the nomination of Lelise Desalegn as a new president of the Federal Supreme Court.

On its 13th regular session, the House also approved the nomination of Zahira Umer Ali as Deputy President of the Federal Supreme Court.

The latest appointment came following the resignation of the former president and deputy president of the Federal Supreme Court, it was indicated.

Meanwhile, the House of Peoples’ Representatives has revoked the immunity of a parliament member, Dr. Chala Wata.

The immunity of the MP, who was the former president of Bulle Hora University, was lifted based on the request made by the Ministry of Justice.

His immunity stripped for he was suspected of corruption when he was the president of the University for making various inflated purchases without following government’s procurement procedures.

Moreover, it has been pointed out that millions of money has been deposited in his bank account and a residential building has been found registered with his wife’s name.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency