As Africa’s the second largest flower exporter, Ethiopia exported roses worth € 333 million in 2015 against € 133 million in 2010. 91% of the flowers are exported to the Netherlands and then re-distributed to France, Germany and the UK. About 50 production sites in Ethiopia take advantage of the favorable conditions in terms of climate, good infrastructure and accessible airports, availability of energy, telecommunications and water. A lot of new investments are currently made around Bahir Dar in this sector, among others to build cooling facilities.

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FloraHolland: Exportwaarde rozenteelt Ethiopië in 2015 333 miljoen euro

De exportwaarde van de rozenteelt in Ethiopië is enorm gegroeid. Van 133 miljoen euro in 2010 naar 333 miljoen euro in 2015. Ethiopië is na Kenia, het belangrijkste exportland in Afrika voor bloemen. Zeker 91% wordt naar Nederland geëxporteerd en een groot deel wordt via Royal FloraHolland verhandeld. Vele rozen vinden via de bloemenveiling hun weg naar Duitsland, Frankrijk en het Verenigd Koninkrijk.

Er zijn in Ethiopië ongeveer 50 kwekerijen, waarvan de meerderheid rozen telen. Er zijn 7 regio’s waar de kwekerijen zijn gevestigd. De meeste kwekerijen zijn gelegen in de omgeving van Addis Abeba. Belangrijke redenen hiervoor zijn: het goede klimaat, vanwege de hoogte, toegang tot de luchthaven, betere infrastructuur, beschikbaarheid van energie, telecommunicatie en water. De laatste jaren vindt er een uitbreiding van de teelt plaats naar Bahir dar. Dit gebied is zich aan het ontwikkelen. Enkele jaren geleden is geïnvesteerd in de plaatselijke luchthaven met koelfaciliteiten.

De productie per rozenkweker in Ethiopië verschilt enorm. Van 70 stelen per m2 in hoog gebied, tot 250 stelen per m2 in laag gebied zoals Ziway. Er wordt een palet aan rozenkleuren geteeld. De meest voorkomende kleuren zijn: roze, wit, geel en rood.

bron: FloraHolland, 14/12/16

Some medias and eminent personalities have recently expressed their concerns regarding the detention of Dr Merera Gudina in Ethiopia. We felt it is important to explain the reasons of this arrest and give more clarity about the current situation in Ethiopia.

Dr Merera Gudina was arrested on 1st of December in Addis Ababa for violating directives of the state of emergency. The state of emergency was declared in October to restore peace and order and put an end to the unrests that unfolded in different parts of the country.

This state of emergency was declared for a period of six months according to the constitutional provisions of the country. Since then, peace and security were restored in the country, and some restrictions have already been lifted. In addition to that, after taking note of these progresses, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK have eased their travel advices to Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian authorities are committed to guarantee the constitutional order and the rule of law, a precondition for democracy. This is precisely the reason why a state of emergency had to be implemented, prohibiting among others any communication of citizens with organizations proscribed as terrorists.

Despite his awareness of these provisions, Dr. Merera Gudina allegedly met and discussed with the leader of a group listed as terrorist in Brussels from 7-9 November 2016. Hence, the arrest of Dr Merera Gudina is not related with the meeting in the European Parliament but the alleged discussion with the leader of a terrorist group. If this meeting is confirmed by the investigation, this would have to be considered as a clear and deliberate violation of the state of emergency.

We understand the concern of our friends and partners, and kindly request them to respect the government’s responsibility to ensure law and order on the case of Dr Merera Gudina and to wait for the completion of the investigation. The government respects the presumption of innocence and did not qualify Dr Merera Gudina of  being “criminal” or otherwise.

On 17 December 2016, the 11th Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Day was colorfully celebrated in Brussels. Members from the Ethiopian diaspora living in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg came to our Embassy to jointly observe this special day. After a brief presentation on the Ethiopian Federal structure, the involvement and coexistence of multiple Nations, Nationalities and People’s of Ethiopia and on the current situation and development of the country, the participants interactively discussed these issues, and concluded the celebration by enjoying together traditional food, drinks and music.

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Statement by Mr. Tesfaye Daba at the 44th session of the ACP parliamentary, about the arrest of Dr. Merera Gudina after his trip to Brussels where he issued a joint statement with Dr Berhanu Nega, chairman of the armed group Ginbot 7 that has been identified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian Parliament.

Mr Tesfaye Daba is Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Standing Committee of the House of People’s Representatives of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Read further:

Statement by Mr. Tesfaye Daba on arrest of Dr Merera Gudina

Statement by Mr. Tesfaye Daba on the relations with the European Parliament

In a meeting held between Foreign Minister Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu and Claudia Wiedey, Head of European External Action Service (EEAS) for Horn of Africa, East Africa and Indian Ocean today (Wednesday 14), the two sides affirmed the need to forge a broad spectrum of cooperation.

Recalling the strategic engagement signed between the EU and Ethiopia this year, Claudia Wiedey noted that the agreement gave further impetus to the relations the two sides cherished for many years.

The Strategic Engagement focuses on six sectoral dialogues: regional peace and security; countering terrorism and violent radicalization; migration; social and economic development, investment and trade; governance and human rights; and climate change and environmental cooperation.

Claudia said as the EU was following the case closely, it would like to welcome the reforms being made by the government regarding addressing the problems related to unrests in some parts of Oromia and Amhara Regional States.

Dr. Workneh on his part said, “We focus on the partnership that we build over the years, I think, that is the most important one.” Mentioning Ethiopia’s commitment towards establishing a continuous dialogue for enhanced cooperation on migration and mobility, Dr. Workneh noted, especially as the chair of the next EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative meeting, the country would closely work on creating a framework for policy and dialogue and also on sharing knowledge and experiences to strengthen cooperation.

The Foreign Minister noted the government’s thriving efforts in bringing about the necessary solutions to fill socio-economic gaps within the society and mentioned the positive responses garnered from the wider mass.

Source: MFA Ethiopia

The construction of Gibe III hydroelectric dam, which is located 470 km south west of Addis Ababa, has been fully completed and its inauguration is scheduled for next Saturday.

The construction of the dam consumed EUR 1.5 billion, according to Engineer Azeb Asnak, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP). About 40 percent of the total construction cost was covered by the government of Ethiopia. The remaining 60 percent was covered by a loan obtained from the China Exim Bank.

The construction of the dam was carried out by the Italian Salini Construction Private Ltd., a company which is also currently building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

With a height of 243 meters, 610 meters of length and with total storage capacity of 15 billion cubic meters, the dam has total installed capacity of 1,870 megawatts. It has 10 Francis turbines each generating 187 megawatts. The dam has already started generating 900 megawatts ahead of its inauguration, thus filling the gap created in the supply of power due to the impact of the El Niño induced drought on other power dams, according to Azeb.

Engineer Mebratu Teshome, Project Site Coordinator of the dam said that Ethiopians have acquired knowledge and experiences which will allow them to build similar projects in the future as several international contractors and designers took part in the construction of the dam.

The Gibe III is the third hydro power plant which was built on Omo River. Gibe I and II, which were built on the same river, are currently generating 184 megawatts and 420 megawatts, respectively. Upon going fully operational, Gibe III will raise the country’s installed generating capacity to 4,200 megawatts.

Source: MFA Ethiopia

On 15 Novembre 2016 the Embassy of Ethiopia in Brussels engaged with two groups of tourists planning to visit Ethiopia at Voyages ICTAM, Brussels. The diplomats briefed the participants about the current situation in Ethiopia which is calm and secure for tourists, and answered their questions. We then interviewed Luc Deckers, Guide and Accompanying Staff at the Tour Operator Voyages ICTAM.

Ethiopia and Denmark inked on Thursday (December, 08) a 28 million Danish Krone (about 4 million U.S. dollars) grant agreement that aims to assist Ethiopia’s effort in diversifying renewable energy generation. The agreement will help Ethiopia tap the potential of wind power generation as well as improve quality service in electricity distribution system.

Admasu Nebebe, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, speaking at the signing ceremony, noted the political will and practical steps taken to unleash Ethiopia’s untapped potential in the sphere of renewable energy, adding that the country has set a target to reach 17,000 MW production capacity by the end of the second five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) through the diversification of renewable energy generation sources, including hydropower, wind, solar and biogas.

Mette Thygesen, Ambassador of Denmark to Ethiopia, noted that “Maintaining high economic growth requires power, and meeting the electricity needs of a growing population requires electricity.”

State Minister Mrs. Hirut Zemene received the newly appointed Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic, Ambassador Luciano Pezzotti.

The two sides discussed on issues of common interest in the Horn of Africa and briefed each other on the rapidly changing peace and security situations in the region.

Mrs. Hirut, commending Italy’s effort in helping stabilize the region said “we need your support and understanding in our effort to deter fundamentalism and terrorism in the region”.

While noting the recent incursion made by terrorist factions in Northern Ethiopia State Minister Hirut said there was a need to check the distractive effort of the Eritrean regime to distabilize the Horn and in particular Ethiopia.

 “We need your close cooperation in our effort to voice Africa’s concern’s in the United Nations Security Council” Mrs, the State Minister added.

Ambassador Luciano Pezzotti on his part noted the long standing relation and cooperation the two countries, adding: “we should deepen our relation and consider broader area of cooperation beyond the Horn of Africa”.

Commending Ethiopia’s hospitality in accommodating huge number of refugees and noting the fact that migration from the Horn of Africa accounts 25% (only to Italy) where 70% of them are Eritreans, the Ambassador said “we also should strengthen our cooperation in areas of mitigating the challenge of migration.”

The Netherlands recently eased their Ethiopia travel advice.

While it was advising against all unnecessary travelling in the country in the wake of unrests in the country, the website of the Foreign Ministry has now eased its travel advice when travelling in Ethiopia and only advises against all but essential travel in very targeted border regions.

In the previous weeks, UK, German and Belgian foreign ministries also lifted their warning for tourists planning to visit the main touristic areas of Ethiopia.

As a result of the unrest that occurred recently in some parts of the country, some European countries had issued travel warnings for visitors. These countries are now cancelling the warnings since the Ethiopian government has managed to restore peace and bring back business as usual.

Ethiopia declared a six-month nationwide state of emergency early October following unrests that occurred in some areas of the country.

One month ago, Ethiopia lifted the directive which required diplomats to inform the Command post if they wanted to travel beyond a 40-kilometer radius out of Addis Ababa; last restrictions on mobile data service were fully liftet. More than 2500 individuals arrested in relation to the violent protests have been released after brief detention.