H.E. Ambassador Hirut Zemene conferred with H.E. Ambassador Frank Felix, Director for Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium and exchanged views on the current situation in Ethiopia, strengthening bilateral ties between the two sides and regional issues.
During the meeting, Ambassador Hirut briefed the Director on the current developments in Ethiopia with reference to the path to peace and dialogue, humanitarian access and steps taken to address Human Rights violations. She also took the occasion to explain about the commencement of initial power generation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and noted her government’s rededication to work with downstream countries based on equitable utilization of the waters of the Nile and through the ongoing AU facilitation on the tripartite negotiation. She congratulated Belgium, as the host country, for the successful conclusion of AU-EU Summit recently held in Brussels.
H.E. Ambassador Felix, on his part, said the current signals for peace in Ethiopia are quite important. He also acknowledged how all sides need to respect humanitarian access. He further noted that Belgium values its long-standing relations with Ethiopia.
The two sides appreciated the encouraging links in trade, investment, tourism, and higher educational institutions and expressed commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in these fields.
Belgium provides important scholarship privileges to Ethiopian students at master’s and PhD levels.
