This article was originally published in the 7th issue (July 2017) of The Ethiopian Messenger, the quarterly magazine of the Embassy of Ethiopia in Brussels.

H.E Ambassador Teshome Toga Chanaka is presiding over the Committee of Ambassadors of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group for the period 1st of February 2017 – 31st of July 2017. As the partnership between the ACP Group of States and the EU is entering a critical phase, Ethiopia’s presidency will contribute to shape future relations between the ACP and the EU.

Towards a united and stronger ACP

With the upcoming expiration of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, which frames cooperation between the European Union and the ACP Group of States, the ACP is reflecting not only on the future of its relationship with the EU, but also on the future of the Group itself. As current chair of both the ACP Council of Ministers and the Committee of Ambassadors, Ethiopia is determined to do its level best to help the ACP Group to obtain a mutually beneficial agreement with the EU.

ACP countries have made significant strides that should be taken into account in the upcoming negotiations. Several ACP countries are now middle-income countries and democratisation has progressed in most member states. Both sides are still developing their negotiating positions, but for the ACP, one thing seems certain: the ACP will continue as a solid united group. The collective strength of the ACP Group derives from decades of inter-regional solidarity, international trade negotiations, development cooperation, political dialogue, and relations with other international organisations. Relations between the European Union and the ACP Group of States are also one of the most enduring features of contemporary international relations. Geopolitical developments did not weaken the bloc; on the contrary, its membership has grown considerably.

But it is also fundamental to modernise the ACP Group and make it more pertinent for the ACP peoples. Ethiopia believes in a united, reshaped ACP group that could challenge traditional thinking and practices on sustainable development to promote inclusive growth and structural transformation of our economies.

A renewed partnership with the EU

Changes in the global economic and geopolitical context and profound transformations undergone by the EU since the signature of the agreement in 2000 have had a significant impact on relations between the EU and the ACP group. It is therefore essential to adapt the partnership to 21st century realities, and this will require no less than a paradigm shift in the way the relationship was conceived so far.

Over the years, ACP-EU relations moved away from a donor- recipient relation as ACP countries became more involved in the disbursement of funds, and the partnership acquired a political dimension. However, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement focused very much on development aid.

ACP countries want to trade more with Europe to industrialise, move up their value chains, and ultimately radically transform the structure of their economies. Any modern partnership in development should help ACP countries to rely on trade rather than aid to develop. But a modern ACP group should also look beyond the EU. Reaching new markets will require to increase the competitiveness of ACP economies.

Therefore, this paradigm shift should come first and foremost from within the ACP countries. There is an agreement within the Group that the ACP Secretariat should be reinforced, better staffed and streamlined along core political objectives – a view that lies at the core of Ethiopia’s presidency. A long-time supporter of the ACP’s unity and solidarity, Ethiopia believes that the ACP group can and should take responsibility for its own future by consolidating and negotiating as a united group to ensure that the next framework will give rise to a better agreement with the EU. Only a strong ACP group will be able to shape policy outcomes and lobby on essential issues such as tackling climate change, implementing the sustainable development goals or managing natural resources and renewable energies.

Particular attention is currently drawn on the nature of the partnership with the EU. Over the years, the ACP-EU relationship has extended to new key issues such as the fight against climate change, counter-terrorism, migration and mobility. Given the increasing number of common challenges, that neither the EU nor the ACP can face alone, equality, mutual respect and mutual interests should be the governing principle of our future partnership.

A three-pillar cooperation

In order to adapt the ACP group to current challenges, three major pillars were determined for the ACP’s future partnership with the EU, intra-ACP cooperation and also the South-South and Triangular cooperation.

The first pillar focuses on issues related to trade, investment and private sector. This will allow ACP countries to industrialise, create jobs in particular for the younger generations, and create jobs. New partners beyond the EU will also be targeted to take advantage of opportunities offered by the emergence of new partners.

The second pillar deals with development cooperation, which is an important part of our partnership. Development cooperation, which for years has been the backbone of the

Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), has considerably improved under Cotonou with respect to the absorption of funds, aid implementation and results. To make sure this new development cooperation ensures social and economic progress and development in our countries, new dimensions such as science and technology were added to this pillar.

The third pillar is a new policy dialogue and advocacy. Political dialogue was a pillar of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement and will remain an important dimension of its successor. However, political dialogue was the weakest dimension of the CPA and has often failed to deliver the expected political outcomes. The ACP believes that a meaningful policy dialogue is vital in overseeing the partnership and will make sure it can contribute to shape the political agenda in significant ways.

The way forward

Over the past 42 years, the relationship between the EU and ACP countries went through continuous changes with its ups and downs. But when looking at the relationship from a long-term perspective, its benefits are significant. While the EU aims at becoming a more effective global player, it is obvious that it will remain a very strategic partner. The ACP, for its part, will turn into an international alliance of developing countries. The organization is currently repositioning itself for more strategic engagements with regards to its future and is determined to put an emphasis on re-positioning the ACP group as an effective player in a challenging global landscape.

In the future, the ACP Group will increasingly relate to the regional groupings (CARICOM, Pacific Forum, AU, etc), as regional groups play a very important role in global governance. This will make the ACP Group more efficient and more pertinent, as some issues can seem remote to ACP, but are pertinent problems into the regional groups. By avoiding duplication and delegating some matters to regions, the added value of the ACP in global forums will be increased, which could make a big difference in global decision making.

The best example of this was the COP21 in Paris, when at a crucial point in time at the negotiations, the 79 ACP countries and the EU joined up to swing the momentum of the negotiations. The group can also play an important role during COP23, that will be chaired by Fidji, one of the ACP’s member States.

The EU itself believes in keeping the Group together. Asked about the future of ACP-EU relations, Koen Does, Director East and Southern Africa and ACP coordination at the European Commission stated: “Why is keeping the group together so important? […] because this is also what our partners want. […] We have seen that there is an unexploited potential in this relationship between the EU and the ACP, when it comes to joining forces to weigh on and influence the global agenda.”

There are numerous topics on the global agenda where the EU and its ACP partners see eye-to-eye. If the future partnership manages to encapsulate this, and if the ACP timely implements expected reforms, there is no doubt the Group could become a formidable global player.

The Ethiopia Netherlands Trade for Agricultural Growth (ENTAG) granted matching funds to 15 projects, which are first round winners of the fund. These projects won grants from 15,000 Euros to 25,000 Euros, making the total amount of money granted in first round more than 300,000 Euros.

ENTAG, a project initiated to support agribusinesses and entrepreneurs operating in Ethiopia to develop the agricultural sector, called on innovators with new idea for the grant.

As per the procedure 15 selected innovators received the fund from the total 134 applicants who compete for the grant on the ceremony held at ENTAG head office on Thursday July 27.

Shitaye Adugna, Manager of Innovation Fund at ENTAG, told Capital that the grant is jointly proposed by the governments of Ethiopia and the Netherlands.

The objective of the innovation fund is to promote innovations in various agricultural sub-sectors in Ethiopia that benefit smallholder farmers.

The areas that the grant covers are fishery, spice, legumes, sesame, poultry, dairy and potato. Winners are selected on different criteria.

Projects are considered innovative when they introduce new or improved products, services, technology, business models and/or service delivery model to the country.
“These 15 winning projects successfully passed the evaluation based on a technical approach, economic viability, implementation capacity and value for money,” Shitaye explained.

Shitaye said that four of the innovation winners come from the dairy sector. The fishery sector has three winners, while spice, potato, pulses have got two winners each and one poultry winner is included on the list.

“The winners shall not be engaged on the business but they have to come with innovative ideas that shall solve the challenges faces on the agribusiness,” the Innovation Fund Manger said.

“For instance on the dairy sector one of the fund winner comes with the idea of packing milk products for a longer shelf period,” Shitaye added.

He said that the winners shall be engaged on agro processing or improving the agriculture activity. “The fund is not just stuck on the agro processing sector,” Shitaye explained.
One of the spice sector grant fund winners comes with the idea to distribute Cardamom seedlings for farmers to expand the export volume. “Currently the spice is collected from the wild but on the new innovation the winner will cultivate the seedling and distribute the seed for wide range production by the farmers.”

“Some of the other winners are directly related with the farming that targets the export market than processing,” he added.

Shitaye further said that ENTAG will provide technical management support for the realization of the project proposed by the winners.

Betel Solomon, Project Manager of Tewodros Kifle Agricultural Mechanization, which is engaged in the aquaculture sector, told Capital that her company comes with the idea to provide feed and fingerling for farmers.

“There is scarcity on the supply of fish feeding for the farmers in the country,” she added.

Her company proposed the idea to establish feed processing plant to supply for farmers who are engaged on aquaculture. Besides that the company has planned to supply fingerling and buy the product from the farmer.

The company won 24, 000 Euros for the idea. The company will also inject additional 24,000 Euros to realize the project. Co-financing is one of the criteria on the grant funding. “We submitted our proposal to expand our business,” Betel added.
Currently, Tewodros Kifle Agricultural Mechanization is supplying fish products it collected from farmers to the market. “Market chain is also one of the challenges for the farmers so we will also buy the products from the farmers,” the project manager said.

ENTAG’s five priority sectors that it works are aquaculture, poultry, spices, sesame and legumes. Among other components of focus, the program has a funding package named Innovation Fund at the forefront of its services, with a grant budget of 1 million Euros.

The fund provides matching grant funding for innovative projects, with a maximum grant contribution of 25,000 Euros.
The Innovation Fund has been operational from September 2016, and it will end in December 2019.

Individual winner projects of the fund, in this round, will get matching grants from 15, 000 to 25, 000 Euros, making the total amount of money granted 300,000 Euros.

 

The latest issue of our magazine The Ethiopian Messenger is available!

Read it here: https://issuu.com/ethiopian.messenger/docs/the_ethiopian_messenger_7

Editorial

Ethiopia is presiding the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Council of Ministers and Committee of Ambassadors until August. Through this presidency, Ethiopia contributes to shaping the future relations between the European Union and ACP countries, as the Agreement governing relationships between them will expire soon. Read our article to learn more about Ethiopia’s objectives and priorities for the future of ACP-EU relations.

Ethiopia’s economy also remains as dynamic as ever. In this issue, we focus on the Amhara region, where rich natural resources and investment incentives are transforming the structure of the economy.

In this issue, we also focus on Ethiopia’s expanding wine sector which is expected to place Ethiopia onto the wine- making countries list.

The EU recently announced its support to the settlement of the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea. As Ethiopia has, time and again, worked to restore ties and normalize relations with Eritrea, it is to be hoped that Ethiopia’s partners will be supportive in dealing with the Eritrean government.

Another article will give you a glimpse of a colourful ceremony that was organised in June at Brussels’ City Hall to celebrate the handing-over of two Ethiopian traditional costumes to Manneken-Pis, the famous symbol of Brussels. The event was also the occasion to celebrate the Ethio- Belgian friendship with old and new friends of Ethiopia in Brussels and beyond.

Finally, we have included in this edition preliminary information on the possible benefits of the new Belt and Road initiative of China on the development of Ethiopia.

Content

ACP-EU relations: Towards a Partnership beneficial to our peoples
The Amhara regional State’s dynamic march towards industrialisation
Ethiopia’s expanding wine sector Ethiopia’s unremitted commitment for lasting peace with Eritrea
The Heart of Manneken-Pis goes to Ethiopia
Walking the walks of the Belt and Road Initiative
የዘመናችን የታሪክ አሻራ ሐውልት

 

On the 19th of July 2017, ambassadors of EU member states and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn held a meeting to discuss current topics such as political reforms in Ethiopia, migration with an emphasis on returnees and the upcoming AU-EU summit.

Reforms and political dialogue

According to Teshome Toga, Ethiopian Ambassador to the EU, the delegation was briefed by the Premier on the effort regarding the in-depth reforms that the government has been pursuing and the political reform being undertaken through dialogue with political parties and civic societies. He assured that the EU Member States could follow the ongoing negotiation among the parties focused on various agendas.

The forums held with the public following the in-depth evaluation was fruitful, which enabled the government to come up with concrete efforts to intensify activities in creating more jobs and addressing issues of good governance, he added.

After the meeting, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Ethiopia Chantal Hebberecht said the “EU is very happy and welcomes the ongoing political dialogue with civic society and political parties.” She told reporters that this kind of direct dialogue with people and civic society is very important in the democratization process.

Business attractiveness 

Economic and business issues was also among the discussion points including Ethiopia’s efforts regarding job creation through the development of industrial parks, the Ambassador said. The EU member states in Ethiopia are working to enable Ethiopia seize the opportunity in various areas including by attracting investors as well as supporting development endeavors. “I tell you that the 21 EU member states here in Ethiopia are doing their best to attract foreign investors here in Ethiopia” she added.

The Head of the EU Representation in Addis Ababa also said that the EU Member States are providing more than one billion euros to the development activities geared towards poverty eradication and improving basic services such as health and education, among others.

Regional stabilization and migration

Alongside its developmental endeavors and political reforms, Ethiopia is well known for its effort in ensuring peace. Ambassador Hebberecht said “we have recognized Ethiopia as it is playing very positive role here in the Horn of Africa.”

Noting that Ethiopia is working to address the root causes of migration through various mechanisms, she also underlined that the EU is supporting the country in this regard. “We are really trying to support the government of Ethiopia to tackle the root cause of the migration in creating job opportunity and develop industrial parks.”

Background of the Ethio-EU relations

Ethiopia and the EU have enjoyed over 40 years of strong and enduring partnership and cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues. The importance of this relationship has been underlined in the Ethio-EU Strategic Engagement (2016). Ethiopia is also an increasingly important partner in terms of migration, as demonstrated by the signature of a Declaration on a Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM).

Ambassadors of EU member states residing in Addis Ababa each year hold dialogue on the partnership with Ethiopia in accordance with the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in Cotonou, Benin in June 2000.

Source: ENA

A side event on the new European Consensus on Development was held today during the High Level Political Forum in New York. While welcoming the EU’s consensus on development, Minister of National Planning, Dr. Yinager Dessie, appreciated EU’s partnership and commitment for the implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda. Dr. Yinager, participating as one of the panelists, also called for enhanced partnership on the areas of climate change, job creation and industrialization and resource mobilization.

Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Yinager Dessie, said Ethiopia has implemented a financial inclusion strategy to transform the cash economy to digital transaction.

He made the remark at an event held under the theme “Eradicating Poverty, Promoting Prosperity and Empowering Women through Financial Inclusion” on the sideline of the High Level Political Forum in New York.

Thirty-eight Members of the European Parliament sent a letter to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, last week complaining that Ethiopia has refused to allow an independent investigation into last year’s demonstrations and protests. The MEPs, whose concern appears to be that the investigation of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) did not support their views, alleged, without any evidence, that the impartiality of the EHRC was “questionable” and described its report as “highly controversial for significant reasons: not only does it underestimate the number of casualties, but it also considers the security measures taken as mostly ‘fair and proportional.” Their letter, unsurprisingly, provided no evidence for their assertions.

In fact, as the Government noted last month in response to concerns expressed earlier, the EHRC investigated in detail the allegations of the numbers who died during the protests and whether the force used had been proportional. The EHRC found this had been proportional in most cases, but not all; the report called for action to be taken in cases where this had not been the case. The Government also noted the changes being introduced in response to the legitimate concerns raised by protesters last year. Although the MEPs took no notice of these, they included inter alia talks with some 17 opposition parties, consideration of proportional representation in voting and the launch of the country’s second National Human Rights Action Plan.

In addition to claiming the casualties last year must have been higher than the report finds, the MEP letter also demanded those detained for exercising “their legitimate freedom of expression” must be released. In fact, as the MEPs might have noted, many of those involved in the demonstrations were detained for a short time and given training courses in the responsibilities, and duties, of citizens. They have all been released. Those still detained are facing charges for violence or other criminal activities. The killing of people and the destruction of property hardly fall under the rubric of “legitimate freedom of expression” even in today’s Europe.

The MEPs letter also refers to the case of Andargatchew Tsige which they describe as “a UK citizen and father of three from London. Andy is a campaigner who had previously addressed the European Parliament on the need for freedom and democratisation in Ethiopia.” The MEPs fail to mention that Andargatchew was Secretary-General of Ginbot 7, a political organization based in Eritrea, publicly committed to overthrowing the government of Ethiopia by armed force and by “any means possible”. They also failed to note that Ginbot 7 has been declared a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian parliament because of the dozens of terrorist activities it has committed against civilians in Ethiopia, including the bombing of hotels and other public places, the planting of mines on roads, and blowing up buses and lorries as well as carrying out a program of kidnapping people from villages close to the Eritrean border to try and recruit supporters. As Secretary-General to Ginbot 7, Andargatchew was closely involved in these activities.

The MEPs signing this letter, as might be expected, include at least one very well-known opponent of the Ethiopian Government, Ms. Ana Gomes, who does not seem to have declared her interest in the subject. She is a close friend of the Chairman of Ginbot 7, Dr. Berhanu Nega, and she has been repeatedly and openly linked to opposition movements that avow armed intervention in Ethiopia. Indeed, as noted, Ginbot 7 has been frequently involved in terrorist activity. Ms. Gomes has made no secret of her dislike of the government of Ethiopia ever since her report as Chair of the EU Observer Mission to the 2005 elections in Ethiopia was comprehensively and critically dismissed as inaccurate and unprofessional.

Read more: 

https://www.ethiopianembassy.be/en/2017/05/18/the-ep-resolution-on-ethiopia-lacks-understanding-on-important-issues/

Swedish Global Clothing Manufacturing Company H&M looks ahead to enter the growing manufacturing sector in Ethiopia, the outgoing Swedish Ambassador Jan Sadek told the local media on the 13th of July 2017.

Following his farewell talks with President Dr. Mulatu Teshome, the Ambassador said Sweden seeks to increase its economic ties with Ethiopia and that a lot of Swedish companies are interested to come to Ethiopia. The global clothing manufacturer, H&M has keen interest to enter the Ethiopian textile industry.

This hopefully will be important in terms of raising hard currency, catalyzing the industrial development of Ethiopia and in creating massive jobs, he underlined. He further stated that Erickson is proud to be here in Ethiopia in the telecom sector.

Ethiopia has the best quality coffee whereas Sweden is the second biggest coffee importer in the world. Ethiopia’s flowers have also large demands in Swedish market. These opportunities further enhance the two countries economic cooperation, according to the Ambassador.

The bilateral relations between the two countries started in the mid-19th century when Swedish Missionaries had come to Ethiopia and expand education and clinics.

Since that time, over 6000 schools have been built in Ethiopia by Swedish initiatives, Ambassador Sadek noted.

The fact that the late athletics legend Abebe Bekila trained by Swedish experts demonstrates the strong historical ties of the two countries, the Ambassador said.

Ethiopia and Sweden have many global issues to hold-on actively including the climate change, migration and global peace and security affairs, Ambassador Sadek mentioned.

“As both Ethiopia and Sweden are currently non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), it is the right time to act jointly in the global arena to promoting climate smart economy, peace and stability,” he added.

National Palace Protocol Affairs Head Ashebir Getnet noted that the relationship between Ethiopia and Sweden goes back to the 1950s when Sweden experts start to expand education, health and agricultural research.

Currently, the bilateral relationship is hiking to investment and common global concerns, he added.

Swedish government has approved a development cooperation to Ethiopia worth for a billion Krone spanned from 2016-2020.

Source: The Ethiopian Herald

Ethiopia earned 866 million USD exporting 221,000 tons of coffee during the last fiscal year .

According to Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Development and Marketing Authority, it has accomplished 92 per cent of its goal in terms of coffee exports increase. “It is a very great achievement compared to nation’s previous years’ coffee export performance.”

Comparing to the coffee export volumes of 2015-2016, coffee exports grew by 11.5 percent during the fiscal year 2016-2017. In addition, the foreign earning from coffee increased by 20 percent due to the global coffee price hikes.

In a recent exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Market Development and Promotion Directorate Director Dassa Daniso said: “86 percent of the total coffee exportations were exported to Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, USA, Belgium, Sudan and South Korea”.

According to him, Germany alone had imported 18 per cent of the Ethiopian exported coffee during the period.

On the 8th and 9th of July 2017, Ethiopia inaugurated two additional industrial parks. Together, these two new sites are expected to create about 40,000 new jobs and accelerated the development of the country’s economy.

Speaking at the inaugurations of the two parks, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said industrial parks will pave the way for the renaissance of the country and are becoming the engines of the country’s development. By developing special economic zones in different parts of the country, the government is working to sustain the double digit economic growth and realize a structural transformation from an agriculture-led to an industrial-led economy.

The Kombolcha Industrial Park, inaugurated on the 8th of July, will gather companies engaged in the textile and garment. The CEO of the Industrial Parks Development Corporation, Sisay Gemechu said that companies to occupy the nine sheds constructed in the first phase of the industrial park will create jobs for more than 20,000 individuals. According to him, companies from the U.S., Korea and Italy have requested to plant their industries in the industrial park. Of the total shades, 70 percent is dedicated to foreign anchor companies, while 30 percent will be occupied by local companies. The park’s closeness to the Djibouti port (480km) is expected to catch the attention of many global anchor companies.

The industrial park in Mekele was inaugurated on the 9th of July. It is built on 100 hectares of land and is also expected to create jobs for 20,000 individuals. Dr. Arkebe Oqubay, Board Chairperson of Industrial Parks Development Corporation emphasized the role that the Mekele industrial park will play in promoting technology transformation and economic integration.

Ethiopia has the ambition to become a manufacturing hub in Africa, earning 1 billion US dollars annually and providing ample employment opportunities to citizens. The government has commissioned the construction of 15 industrial parks across the country. Industrial parks in Adama and Dire Dawa are expected to be inaugurated in about six months. The country’s first industrial park in Hawassa was inaugurated in 2016.