The Netherlands is sending another 3 million euros in extra aid to drought stricken Ethiopia, Minister Lilianne Ploumen of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation announced on Monday, ANP reports.
Read more: http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/05/16/netherlands-sends-%EF%BB%BFe3-million-extra-aid-ethiopia/
Read the full April Monthly Press Review by EAGATE FOREIGN TRADE AUXILIARY PLC by clicking here.
ውድ አንባብያን
የመጀመርያው የመልእክተ ኢትዮጵያ እትማችን በአንባቢዎች ዘንድ ጥሩ ተቀባይነት ማግኘቱ ከደረሱን መልእክቶች ማረጋገጥ የቻልን ሲሆን፣ 2ኛው እትም ስናቀርብላችሁም የመረጥናቸው ርእሰ ጉዳዮች እንደምትወዱዋቸው በመተማመን ነው፡፡
በዚህ እትም በኢትዮጵያ እና አውሮፓ ህብረት መካከል እየተጠናከረ ስለመጣው ግንኙነት፣ በቅርቡ የተመሰረተው የአትዮጵያ አውሮፓ ፓርላማ የወዳጅነት ቡድን ሊቀመንበር ከተከበሩ ሊዊ ሚሸል ጋር ያደረግነው ቃለ ምልልስ፣ አገራችን የተባበሩት መንግስታት የጸጥታው ምክር ቤት ተለዋጭ አባል እጩነት እና በቅርቡ በአንዳንድ የኦሮምያ አካባቢዎች ስለተከሰተው ግጭት ትንተና አቅርበናል፡፡
በተመሳሳይ የአገራችንን የኢንዱስትሪ እቅዶች ከማሳካት አኳያ ከፍተኛ ሚና ያላቸው የኢንዱስትሪ ፓርኮች ምስረታ፣ በአገራችን ስለተከሰተው ድርቅ፣ የአገራችን የቱሪስት መስህቦች እንዲሁም በኢትዮጵያ እና ቤልጅየም ከፍተኛ ትምህርት ተቋማት መካከል ስላለው ትብብር የሚዳስሱ ጽሑፎች አቅርበንላቹሃል፡፡
መልካም ንባብ እንዲሆንላችሁ እየተመኘን፣ በእትሞቻችን ላይ ያላችሁን አስተያየት፣ በመጽሔታችን ጽሑፎች እና መልእክቶች ማውጣት የምትፈልጉ እንደተለመደው በኤምባሲያችን አድራሻ እንድታደርሱን እንጋብዛለን፡፡
የአርትኦት ኮሚቴ
Dear Reader,
We are happy to print this second issue of our Embassy’s magazine. The first issue has raised a lot of interest among our readers. We are happy and proud that our “Ethiopian Messenger”, which is bringing news to Europe about the fast-developing Ethiopia, has accomplished its task.
In this issue, you will read about the continuing momentum between the European Union and Ethiopia with the launching of the Ethiopia-European Parliament Friendship group which will, as H.E. Louis Michel said, help a lot for the relations between the two partners.
You will also have background insights on different topics: Ethiopia’s candidacy to the UNSC, recent events in the Oromia region, the drought situation of Ethiopia, the development of industrial parks, the tourism potential of the Simien Mountain National Park as well as the cooperation between Ethiopia and Belgium in the field of higher education.
We hope you will enjoy reading this magazine. Please contact us to contribute to the next issue! We are also looking forward to receive your feedback.
The Editorial Team
Content
Read the full magazine: http://ethio.be/EthiopianMessenger2
On 11 April, 2016, Ethiopia Satellite Television (ESAT) released a news item claiming that the Ethiopian government had stopped the fundraising campaign by UN agencies. According to the report, this message was conveyed in a meeting between a representative of United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Special Envoy for the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Ambassador Behane Gebrekiristos. OCHA Ethiopia hereby states strongly that the story is false. OCHA did not speak to this media house and the government never told OCHA to stop the campaign.
OCHA greatly appreciates the close collaboration between the Government of Ethiopia and humanitarian partners to ensure timely and appropriate response to those affected by the El Niño-driven drought in the country.
Ethiopia is contending with one of the most serious climatic shocks in recorded history. More than ten million people in the country remain severely food insecure due to lost harvests and livestock as a result of consecutive failed rains in 2015. Whilst the Government and the international community have already provided more than $800 million in emergency funding, which has helped alleviate the suffering of many, critical gaps remain. This is why the Humanitarian Country Team in collaboration with the Government of Ethiopia launched a 90-Day Campaign on March 23, 2016 with the aim to urgently raise funds and in-kind support to address the significant life-saving gaps. The 90-Day campaign recognizes that urgent and substantial funding is required to address current needs and protect the development gains the Government and its development partners have worked tirelessly to build up over decades.
Issued 28 April 2016, by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); Ethiopia
H.E. Ambassador Teshome Toga visited the University of Namur, which is located in the french-speaking Wallonia region of Belgium and held a useful discussion with the rector of the University, Professor Yves Poullet, with staff of the University and Ethiopian students who are currently studying in the university.
The objective of the meeting was to explore ways to establish an enhanced academic collaboration between the university of Namur and a selection of Ethiopian universities for the mutual academic and research benefit. The Embassy had a very useful discussion on these topics with the University.
So far, the university of Namur has provided 25 scholarship to Ethiopian students, mainly at masters level and a few PhDs.
Pictures © University of Namur
The European Union Delegation issues the following statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Missions in Ethiopia (20 April 2016) A criminal attack on 15 April launched by armed elements from South Sudan on Jakawo, Gambella region, Ethiopia, led to the loss of over two hundred lives on the Ethiopian side and over one hundred Ethiopian children have been abducted.
The EU expresses its condolences to the families of the victims and calls for the South Sudanese authorities to ensure the immediate return of the abducted children to their families and that those responsible for this act of violence are held accountable. This attack is a tragic reminder of the need to achieve lasting peace, justice and rule of law in South Sudan.
According to Jean Paul Blavier, Ethiopia is attracting more and more investors. Several factors explain this interest: local infrastructure, potential of the Ethiopian and regional markets, geographic location of the country, reliability of the local work force as well as government tax incentives and political stability. We interviewed Jean Paul Blavier on the 11th of February to know more about his assessment of the private sector opportunities in Ethiopia and to ask him a few advices he could give to investors. Jean Paul Blavier worked as Ethiopia Country Manager for the Castel group, and is now consultant in Belgium for private companies and public organizations involved in the Ethiopian business sector.
The Government of Ethiopia expressed it deep sorrow over the killing of 208 civilians. Armed militants of South Sudan’s Murle tribe infiltrated into Ethiopia on Friday, and attacked 13 kebeles in Anuak and Nuer Zones of the Gambella Regional State, killing 182 civilians so far. The total number of death reached 208 including those killed last month. According to Government Communication Affairs Office (GCAO), the group also kidnapped 100 children and looted more than 2,000 cattle. GCAO Minister, Getachew Reda disclosed on Saturday (April 16, 2016) that the Ethiopian Defense Force has continued with its military operation to release children kidnapped from districts in the regional state of Gambella. He said security forces were chasing the attackers and had killed 60 so far. GCAO related that measures by the defense force have been intensified to locate and release the children. Some 11 armaments of the attackers have been seized and a team of medical personnel have been dispatched to help treat the civilians wounded in the attack, it added.
The official blog of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia is meant to provide an additional discussion platform for diplomats, officials, writers, scholars and academics to engage in dialogue and share views on issues relevant to Ethiopia and Ethiopian Foreign Policy. As a corollary to this objective, the blog has a purpose of fostering the culture of writing and debating on foreign policy issues more importantly among young diplomats. The blog, thus, being a convenient platform, diplomats in particular are encouraged to write on foreign policy issues of relevance to Ethiopia and contribute to the overall effort in promoting Ethiopia’s foreign policy goals. Contributions published under this blog are published under the name of the author who remains responsible for their contents. Blog posts represent only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.
Visit the blog now: https://ethiopiandiplomacy.wordpress.com
Brussels, 8 April 2016
The European Commission announces €122.5 million to help Ethiopia deal with a deteriorating humanitarian situation caused by the El Niño extreme weather phenomenon.
Today the European Commission has announced €122.5 million for Ethiopia to address the immediate needs of people affected by the worsening humanitarian situation caused by one of the most severe extreme El Niño weather phenomenon on record. This new support aims to combine a humanitarian response and early recovery assistance with initiatives that address the root causes of fragility and vulnerability.
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides stated: “With over 10 million people currently struggling to find food, the humanitarian situation is very worrying. The EU is taking action; our new support will allow us to step up our efforts to help the most vulnerable in Ethiopia.”
European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica also said: “Our support aims at combining short-term lifesaving with strengthening Ethiopia’s resilience by addressing the root causes of fragility and vulnerability. We can build on the past successes of Ethiopia which has already stepped up its efforts to tackle the drought crisis.”
Commissioners Mimica and Stylianides are currently in Ethiopia in the framework of the College to College (C2C) conference taking place in Addis Ababa, where Commissioners from the European Union and the African Union are meeting. Today Commissioners Mimica and Stylianides together with Vice-President responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue, Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen visited one of the worst hit areas in Ethiopia, Dire Dawa, to assess the humanitarian situation.
Background
What is ‘El Niño’?
The extreme phenomenon is characterised by rising temperatures of surface sea water, which interact with the atmosphere and cause different extreme events, from floods to droughts. While El Niño has global effects, it is particularly affecting large regions of Africa with both floods and droughts. This strongly impacts food security, health, and access to water and hygiene conditions of millions of people living in already vulnerable regions. The worst-hit country so far is Ethiopia.
The new EU funding comes on top of a first El Niño emergency package announced in December last year that consisted of €79 million for the Greater Horn of Africa region and from which nearly €43 million will benefit Ethiopia.
EU support to Ethiopia
The EU has been providing both emergency humanitarian funding and long term development support to Ethiopia cope with these various challenges. It has provided over €200 million in humanitarian aid in the last five years. Ethiopia is also the largest beneficiary of EU development assistance, with a country programme of €745 million for 2014-2020 (through the 11th European Development Fund.) Out of this amount a total of €252 million has been provided to finance food security, sustainable agriculture and to fight climate change.
The support is coherent with the EU Resilience Approach that combines a humanitarian response with initiatives that addresses the root causes of fragility and vulnerability.
Source: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1292_en.htm
