Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn briefed diplomats on 17 November 2016 on current situations in Ethiopia; particularly on major progresses witnessed during the State of Emergency period and of the reforms being pursued by the government to fulfill the pledges it has made for the public.

Given the appalling actions of the destructive forces on lives of people, hard-won investment projects and infrastructures, the Premier noted, the government was obliged to declare the State of Emergency.

He underscored, since the first day of the authorization of the State of Emergency the country has been able to restore law and order and is now back to normalcy. The recently lifted restrictions on diplomats travelling in the country without permission clearly affirm this fact, noted the Premier. He re-affirmed that regular business can be conducted as usual. The Premier noted, in the first ten days of the State of Emergency, seventy percent of those who were involved in the violence had willfully given their hands to security forces and pardoned after being given the necessary training which he said would help them integrate with their communities successfully.

Briefing on the key reform programs being carried out by the government, Hailemariam said, there are three major categories; shared and equitable economic growth, expansion of the democratic space and economic restructuring. Ethiopia has achieved seven of the eight Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations and witnessed a double digit growth. However, the Premier noted, significant number of the population, particularly the youth, has not been benefiting from the development as much as it should. He added among those who were engaged in the violent activities, the youth accounted 99 percent; and the youth aged 15 to 30 is fifty percent of the population. Hence, the government is working aggressively to provide job opportunities more than ever by allocating funds worth billions of birr.

Regarding opening up the democratic space, Hailemariam noted the government thoroughly understood the importance of enhancing civic participation, strengthening democratic institutions particularly on pertinent organs like Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, Office of the Federal Auditor General, Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, etc. Touching upon reforming the electoral system, the Premier said that “we felt that the coming parliament should also accommodate those who are not represented.”

Prime Minister Hailemariam also said the economy of the country is performing well even at the times the country witnessed the violence where it has observed an eight percent growth in the previous Ethiopian calendar. Albeit El-Niño, the Premier said the country has managed to overcome its dreadful effects where the agricultural sector was only affected in a certain controllable way. He stressed that the good news is the country would have a bumper harvest where the pre-harvest estimate showed that the agriculture would come to normalcy; even score higher growth of 12 percent.

The Foreign Direct Investment is still one of the best in the continent and the government is working hard that the current situations would not hamper the flow, according to Hailemariam. He called on diplomats to encourage their nationals to continue investing in the country. Hailemariam said that the twelve industrial parks that will be built in the country are expected to create job opportunities for more than 1.2 million people. He underlined that no slowdown was witnessed regarding the ongoing mega projects in the country.

On 17 November, H.E. Ambassador Teshome Toga met with Mr Marcis Dzelame, Head of Foreign Affairs for the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and discussed areas of cooperation to strengthen the economic relationship of the two countries.

Ambassador Teshome seized this opportunity to brief Mr Dzelame on the economic achievements, priority investment areas, export commodities and tourism potential of Ethiopia, and requested the Chamber to encourage the private sector of Latvia to eye African business opportunities. On his behalf, Mr Dzelame said that compared to the trade volume between Ethiopia and the remaining Baltic states, Latvia remains behind. He thus underscored the need to elevate the trade relations by creating awareness. He has also mentioned that the Latvian private sector is not well informed about the business potential of Africa.

In this regard, Ambassador Teshome shared his experience of organizing a successful business forum with Estonia and mentioned the need to organize the same platform to fill the information gab. Meanwhile both sides reached on a concrete agreement to organize a business forum on April 2017 in Latvia focusing on Africa. Ambassador Teshome has taken the initiative to coordinate other African countries Ambassadors to take part on the forum. The two side also agreed to cooperate in exchanging trade missions between the two countries.

On the same day, Ambassador Teshome Toga met with H.E. Ambassador Rets Plēsums, Director of Second Bilateral Relations Department of the Latvian Foreign Ministry and discussed the bilateral relationships between the two countries and issues related to regional and global situations. In his behalf, Ambassador Teshome extended his gratitude for the government of Latvia for voting in favor of Ethiopia for the seat of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. He also reassured the readiness of his government to work together with Latvia in tackling global peace and security challenges. Similarly, Ambassador Teshome has also congratulated the Ambassador for the 98th Independence Day of Latvia.

H.E. Ambassador Teshome has also indicated that his visit to Latvia is also intended to follow up the implementation of the MOU signed between the two countries last year. On his behalf, Ambassador Rets Plēsums indicated the excellent diplomatic relations of the two countries and mentioned the need to implement the MOU to deepen the existing diplomatic relations. He has also indicated the preparation his Ministry to visit Ethiopia for political consultations based on the framework of the MOU. The Director has also mentioned that the Ambassador in Cairo is on the process of accreditation to Ethiopia.

Ambassador Teshome welcomed the proposed political consultations in Ethiopia. He also took this opportunity to brief the director on the economic development of the country and the recent political unrests causing the loss of life and destruction of property. He further noted that measures are being taken by his government to restore law and order and address the political and economic demands of the people.

In addition, Ambassador Teshome explained the situation in the region and in particular the challenges of the peace agreement of South Sudan and the election in Somalia, as well as Ethiopian’s role in sustaining peace and security in the region. The Ambassador did not pass without appreciating the excellent relationship that his country is maintaining with the European Union and its member states in  the areas of development, migration and maintaining peace and security.

Finally the two sides have agreed to strengthen their economic ties via trade, investment, tourism, transfer of knowledge and technology. Ethiopia would like to share the best experience of Latvia especially on the IT sector. On the finally day of his visit Ambassador Teshome participated in the official ceremonies organised the state to commemorate the 98th independence of the Republic of Latvia.

 Ambassador Teshome Toga assisting to a flower laying ceremony at Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia, on 18 November 2016

H.E. Ambassador Teshome Toga is on a working visit to Riga, Latvia to strengthen the bilateral relations between Ethiopia and Latvia.

On 16 November, Ambassador Teshome Toga met with Mr Ojārs Ēriks Kalninš, Head of Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia. Sharing his experience as a speaker in the Ethiopian Parliament, Ambassador Teshome mentioned the irreplaceable role of parliaments in playing an active role in foreign policy of a country by way of parliamentary diplomacy. The Ambassador briefed the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee about the excellent diplomatic relationships between the two countries both bilaterally and at the EU level.

The Ambassador also recalled the MOU signed last year to further deepen the friendly relationship between the two countries via political consultation. Meanwhile, the Ambassador further explained Ethiopia’s economic development and the recent unrest causing loss of life and how the government is striving to address the grievances of the people through massive consultations and engagement. He mentioned the tireless effort of Ethiopia in maintaining the regional peace and security by sending peacekeepers and by hosting over 800,000 refugees. Mr Ojārs Ēriks Kalninš on his turn explained that his country is working towards strengthening its relationships with countries in east Asia, Middle East and Africa. Mr Kalninš mentioned that Ethiopia is a country having a long civilizations and his country has already established parliamentary friendship group to maintain close relationships with the Ethiopian parliament. He has also indicated that the friendship group has already decided to meet with its counterparts in Addis Ababa in 2017.

The two sides have expressed the will to enhance a direct trade relations based on Ethiopia’s comparative advantage of exporting quality coffee and cut flowers and for Ethiopia to benefit from the well established IT sector of Latvia. Both sides have also discussed and agreed to deepen investment and promote people to people relations via tourism. Both sides underlined the need to organize African-Latvian Investment forum with the view of informing the Latvian private sector about Africa’s investment potential.

Meanwhile, both sides have exchanged views related to the EU and other regional and global current phenomenon and agreed to cooperate on the international stage based on mutual interest.

An Ethio-german business roundtable was held on Monday 14 November 2016 at Hilton Addis, during which a delegation from the Bavarian state of the Federal Republic of Germany has been briefed on investment and business opportunities in Ethiopia.

State Minister for Business and Diaspora Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Mr Regasa Kefale, addressing the delegation on the longstanding relations of the two countries stated, “Ethiopia and Germany enjoy excellent diplomatic relations that spans more than a century”.  He expressed Ethiopia’s appreciation for the meaningful support extended by the German Government in the past half a century to the tune of one billion Euros under technical and financial cooperation, among others, on education, food security and agriculture. Mr Regasa pointed out that, the Ethio-German two way trade exchanges has witnessed a continuous growth in volume, which achieved last year half a billion US dollars. He emphasized on the “need to further increase and diversify trade opportunities” between businesses and governments of the two countries.

From German side, the head of the delegation, Mr. Ulrich Konstantin Rieger, Deputy Head of the Department for Internalization in the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, stated that the longstanding historical relation between the two countries should be further strengthened on the field of business and trade ties. The delegation composed of Bavarian state officials, business company heads from energy, construction and manufacturing sectors as well as university professors will enhance the already existing strong economic relations of the two countries, he added.

Mr. Fitsum Arega, the Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission has also briefed the participants on investment opportunities in Ethiopia, namely in the manufacturing, agroprocessing, energy and pharmaceutical sectors. In his briefing, Mr. Fitsum underlined the favorable investment conditions ranging from Ethiopia’s fast growing economy which he said was attracting massive FDI up to the well-oriented investment policy of the government. Bavarian state business companies which are engaged on manufacturing, energy and construction sectors will be successful in Ethiopia’s conducive investment environment, he added.

The Bavarian state delegation is expected to meet government officials of the Ministry of Education, Health, Science and Technology, among others.

Source: MFA Ethiopia

Through a new recommendation issued on its website, the German Foreign Ministry lifted its warning for German tourists planning to visit the main touristic areas of Ethiopia. According to the Ministry, cities such as Bahir Dar, Gondar, Lalibela, Dire Dawa, Arba Minch can be visited safely. Travelling there “is currently possible without any problem”, the website further states.

This warning was lifted after the peace and stability was restored in the country, said Getnet Yigzaw, public relations head of the Ethiopian Tourism Organization (ETO).

As a result of the unrest that occurred recently in some parts of the country, countries, including Germany, had issued travel warnings for visitors.

These countries are cancelling the warnings since the Ethiopian government has managed to restore peace and bring back business as usual, Getnet said. According to him, Britain and the US are also expected to lift the travel warning to Ethiopia.

Last week, Ethiopia lifted the directive which restricted diplomats from travelling beyond a 40-kilometer radius out of Addis Ababa without the permission of the command post.

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

Sources: German MFA, FBC

Germany’s Development Minister Gerd Mueller said on Friday (November 11) that Germany would in the coming weeks release details of what he called a new “Marshall Plan with Africa”.

He was referring to the huge U.S. investment program in Germany and Europe after World War Two. He urged other developed countries to support a plan Germany is finalizing to bolster the economies of Africa, create jobs and slow the flow of migrants from the continent to Europe.

The International Organization for Migration last week said nearly 160,000 people had crossed the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy this year, while 4,220 had died trying. Mr. Mueller told a news conference: “We have to invest in these countries in Africa and give people perspectives for the future”, adding  “if the youth of Africa can’t find work or a future in their own countries, it won’t be hundreds of thousands, but millions that make their way to Europe.”

Mr. Mueller also noted that in addition to the migrants already looking to come to Europe, there were about 20 million displaced people in Africa. Mueller said his plan was aimed at developing joint solutions with African countries, with a big focus on program for youth, education and training and on strengthening economies and the rule of law.

He also said these issues needed to be recognized by the international community, and Africa should have representation on the U.N. Security Council.

Mr. Mueller said a significant share of his ministry’s proposed budget increase of over 1 billion euros for 2017 would be earmarked for projects in Africa.

Earlier in the week, Germany also pledged a 61-million-euro ($67 million) rise in funding for U.N. relief operations in Africa.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie received a copy of credentials of the newly appointed Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Ambassador Urban Andersson today (November 11). Discussions focused on the promotion of peace and security in the Horn of Africa. The Special envoy commended Ethiopia’s continued engagement in the maintenance of regional peace and security. On the occasion, Ambassador Taye noted the long-standing and excellent relations between Ethiopia and Sweden and stressed that Ethiopia would continue to work to bring the two countries relations to the highest level possible in areas of mutual concern and cooperation

At the major horticulture fairs in the Netherlands IFTF and Royal Flora Holland, investors in the floriculture sector reiterate their determination to expand their business in Ethiopia.

The Finnish Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Helena Airaksinen said yesterday (November 8) that her country would continue providing professional and financial assistance to Ethiopia.

She said the assistance would focus on rural water supply and sanitation as well as the expansion of primary school education. The Ambassador added that Finland had the desire to carry out concrete works in these selected sectors during the second Growth and Transformation Plan.

Ambassador Airaksinen said 15 million Euros would be allotted annually to realize the development programs during the Growth and Transformation Plan. She also disclosed that more than 1.8 million people and 140,000 institutions would benefit from the supply of potable water.