On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn met today the president of the Republic of Finland Saudi Niinisto and discussed on matters of mutual interest.
During the discussion President Niinisto noted that Ethiopia Ethiopia and Finland have long standing relationship and commended Ethiopia’s contribution in stabilizing the Horn of Africa region.
Ethiopia’s economic growth is recognizable, said president Niinisto, as one of the fastest in the world while recognized the pressure on Ethiopia from the flow refugees’ due to conflicts in the region.
Prime Minister Hailemariam extends his thanks to the support Ethiopia is getting from Finland, and said, mainly the support to the education sector is productive and qualitative.
With regards to the economic environment, the Premier explained that the government is trying to improve the business climate and reform programs to improve our system underway. These reform programs, according to him would enable Ethiopia to attract more business from Finland and other European countries.
On the security matters, Prime minister Hailemariam explained the security challenges in the region, especially of the source of refugees in Eritrea. He said that the young Eritreans leave their country because of the policy of the government and that has resulted to a demographic problem in the country.
As Ethiopia strives to fight poverty, it wants peace to prevail in the region, and Eritrea is not an exception, he said. Hence, Ethiopia offers several times for dialogue to solve the border problem and asks international partners to put press on Eritrea to have civilized dialogue.
Finally, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the President of the Republic of Finland and to work closely with his country in various global issues.
Source: Ethiopian Mission, UN
