The Ethiopian government has vowed to enhance women’s participation in the military, police and the civilian services of the United Nations Peacekeeping.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day Preparatory Meeting on Women, Peace and Security with the Canada authorities and the United Nations (UN in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde suggested that any peacekeeping mission should give priority for the protection of women and other vulnerable groups.

She further said that the collaboration of the African Union (AU) and the UN should focus on ensuring the active participation of women and women’s groups in peace processes, conflict prevention, resolution, and peacebuilding activity, and promotion of women’s human rights.

The State Minister of Defense, Ambassador Lela-Alem Gebreyohannes added that the country has deployed thousands of peacekeepers to the eight UN missions in which it had participated.

“This record reflects Ethiopia’s sustained commitment to supporting the idea that women truly make a difference in successful peacekeeping,” she said, adding that this was a clear testimony of an unwavering commitment to continue playing an active role in peacekeeping in the years and decades to come.

The Peace and Stabilization of Canada’s Global Affairs Director-General, Larisa Galadza, said Ethiopia is showing exceptional leadership at the United Nations.

“It is a leading troop contributor, and it is also the country that is deploying the highest number of women in uniform to peace operations,” said Galadza.

Currently, more than 7500 Ethiopian peacekeepers are serving under the UN Blue Helmets. The country is proud of being one of the leading contributors of female peacekeepers with more than 600 deployed under UN Peace Keeping Missions.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially inaugurated the 1.26 billion birr Gidabo Irrigational Dam, located between the Oromia and SNNP Regional States (Southern Ethiopia) on 3 February.

Speaking at the inauguration, Prime Minister Abiy stressed his government’s plan to focus on irrigation farming mobilizing local resources. Considering the government’s priority of agriculture & strengthening irrigation projects, he emphasizes that similar projects will bring together communities from different regions.

“It is a shame to beg wheat and engage ourselves in throwing stones to each other,” PM Abiy said, stressing the need to avoid wasting precious time and resources fighting because over political and ethnic differences.

“We need more of such irrigation dams to produce and feed wheat instead of fighting each other begging wheat,” he said. He also indicated that the country should focus on what it already has such as water, arable land, and labor, instead of trying to industrialize using external loan and aid.

The dam can create jobs for up to 20,000 skilled youth and generates income addition to 10, 850 households engaged in farming and agro-pastoralists, according to Engineer Sileshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s water and Energy Minister.

PM Abiy also stressed similar irrigation projects, which link the people of two different regions [Oromia and Southern region], should be replicated to strengthen bondage between the people in different regions such as between Amhara and Tigray.

The Gidabo water used to create a swamp area of 6,000 hectares before the irrigation dam was built, according to Engineer Abdulfeta Taju, Gidabo project head, who also indicated that the dam could also serve for fishing.

Launched nine years ago, Gidabo irrigation dam has cost the country over 1.14 billion birrs (around $41 million) mainly because of design revision, which increased the irrigation capacity from 7,000 hectares to 13,000 hectares. The investment includes installation of over 7 kilometers of concrete canal, according to Engineer Abdulfeta.

Interview of Ambassador Grum by Brussels Express.

Avenue de Tervuren is known to be a busy street, thanks to its multiple embassies, regional representations, and NGOs. N°64 on this avenue is home to the Embassy of Ethiopia to the Kingdom of Belgium and to the European Union. Last week, n°64 was undoubtedly the busiest door on Avenue de Tervuren due to the visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. 

This was Abiy Ahmed’s first official visit to Brussels and to the European Union institutions. He met with Jean Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk and Federica Mogherini. The full package. On this occasion, Ethiopia and the European Union signed a 130 million euros cooperation agreement divided in three pillars: job creation (50 million euros), sustainable energy (35 million euros), and the establishment of agro-industrial parks in Ethiopia (45 million euros).

It was in this overloaded week that I met the new Ambassador of Ethiopia to the Kingdom of Belgium and to the European Union: Ambassador Grum Abay. 

I was waiting, at the charming conference room of the Embassy, for the Ambassador, when suddenly, I heard a friendly voice saying “Buongiorno Antonio!” I did not want to disappoint him and immediately replied “Buongiorno Signor Ambasciatore!”. 

“You know” he continued “I’ve served as a diplomat and as an ambassador in Rome for several years! I love your country!”

“Well thank you” I replied, “but I only have Italian origins…in fact, I’m Portuguese”. 

“Even better! Now you really must visit Ethiopia because both Portugal and Italy are old countries in the relationship between Ethiopia and Europe”.

This is how my conversation with the Ambassador started. 

Can you tell me an anecdote about the luso-ethiopian relationship? 

Of course! There are many, but I’ll tell you this one. The Portuguese came in the 16th century to Ethiopia. Funny enough, they came and told us that they were there to Christianise us and we explained to them that we were already Christians before they became one. Ethiopia accepted Christianity in 330 AD. We were in fact the second country in the world to accept Christianity after Armenia.

Ambassador Abay, you were appointed Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium in 2018. You also are the representative of Ethiopia to the European Union, and also the other Benelux countries. It’s quite a challenging position.

I’ve been serving as a diplomat for 33 years now. Since the beginning of my career,  I’ve been mostly dealing with European affairs. In fact, my first foreign position was here in Brussels back in 1992. At the time, I was working as a Counsellor in this same Embassy, so I’m not new to Brussels. Between my first time in Brussels and this new chapter, I was the Ambassador of Ethiopia to Italy and most recently to Russia. I was transferred directly from Moscow to Brussels, where I presented my credentials last September 25th. Obviously, most of the job here concerns the European institutions. On a bilateral basis, it’s Belgium and Luxembourg that we are covering. We used to cover the Netherlands but since we opened an Embassy there last April 2018, we longer cover it. 

How do you describe the relationship between Belgium and Ethiopia?

We have a strong and old relationship with Belgium. In fact, our diplomatic relations started in 1906! You are the 5th country that opened an official diplomatic representation in our land. The order is Italy (1896), France (1898), United Kingdom (1899), 1900 (The United States) and 1906 (Belgium).  So, as you can see, we have long history…way before the European project. During the Italian invasion, Belgians were the ones who helped establish the Ethiopian body guard unit, which was responsible for the security of the Imperial Palace.

How do you describe diplomatically Belgium? 

Belgium respects the sovereignty of other countries. I think Belgium is a soft power country. It doesn’t engage on issues that are not critical to its own interest, and that’s why you don’t hear that much about Belgium on some of the global crisis situations. But Belgium’s voice is heard through the EU.

But in Africa you hear about Belgium. What about Congo?

The problem about colonialism in Africa, for us Ethiopians, it really doesn’t figure. Therefore, I don’t have the authority to comment. Luckily, we have not suffered under colonialism. 

I assume there were many attempts…

Yes, many. Starting with your fellow countrymen, the Portuguese, but none of them succeeded. That is why there is a very strong sense of patriotism in Ethiopia. We might argue or fight with each other time to time, but whenever there were attempts of external aggression, we always find a way to come together. When our African brothers and sisters tell us what they went through under colonialism, it is difficult to understand them because that was not our experience. I’m not saying that they didn’t suffer. I’m just saying that we haven’t gone through that experience. Nonetheless, we Ethiopians were at the forefront of the anti-colonial struggle in Africa. Coming back to the Belgian colonization, let’s not forget that Congo was the property of King Leopold and not really Belgium, as a State. I think other European States have more responsibility. What about the British, French and Portuguese? They had almost the entire continent. 

Do you think colonialism in Africa is over?

Yes, I feel that the story of colonialism in Africa is long over. Many in Africa still talk about colonialism as the cause of their lack of development. I categorically disagree with that because as far as I’m concerned, 70 years already passed. You cannot always go back to the past and blame colonialism for your own shortfalls. Frankly speaking: always blaming colonialism for the lack of good governance, for the lack of economic development, for the lack of political stability, for the lack of security is not intellectually honest. You have been independent for the last 70 years, that it is a long time to do things right.

You are sending the message that Ethiopia doesn’t behave like its continental neighbours. 

I would put like this: we are very proud of our history and that gives us a psychological predisposition in feeling that we are equal to anybody. We don’t have any inferiority complex. We don’t feel that the Europeans or Americans – because they are rich, white, blue or yellow – are superior to the Ethiopians. Our job consists in trying our best to develop our country without using any past, external or psychological excuses. 

I understand the European Union is your main developing partner. What’s your strategy?

We feel that the economic development of Ethiopia is much linked with Europe and whatever assistance we get from the European Institutions, Ethiopia is renowned for implementing projects partly or fully financed by the Europeans. You don’t find in Ethiopia any European budget being stolen or put to use for other purposes. 

Can you share an example of a successful project?

Well, for instance our national road development program. The amount allocated from the European institutions was exclusively used for this project. You know, everything is monitored. We have a very strict mechanism. The money is released on tranches so our partners can check the implementation of the project. 

How much has the European Union allocated so far to Ethiopia? 

About 745 million Euros from 2014 to 2020. Ending in fact this year in 2019. 

How do you describe your economy in 2019?

Multiple international experts are being testimony to the incredible growth of the Ethiopian economy. We have been growing by 10% on average for 12 years. We are among the top 5 countries with the most impressive economic growth in the world. In Africa, we are number 1. Our economy is based on agriculture. Our challenge is to modernise Ethiopia’s agriculture in order to be more efficient and productive. Lately, we have focused our attention on the manufacturing sector by building industrial parks where we can attract foreign investors to create job opportunities for our youth. This is an important concern for us: to create jobs for our future generation. Our government believes that job creation will flourish in the manufacturing sector with input from an efficient, productive and technically-advanced agriculture.

And what about coffee? What is the weight of this sector on your economy? 

Agriculture as a whole used to represent nearly half of our GDP and nowadays is around a third. Nevertheless, coffee still remains as the main export item from Ethiopia. Coffee exports are 40% of exported items, which represents about 10 % of our GDP.

40%?! Almost half of the economy?

Yes, 40%. Well, it used to more than 60%.

Most of coffee producers in Ethiopia are local farmers. How do they deal with the multinationals? 

The farmers do not sell directly to the multinationals. There are two ways of selling coffee from Ethiopia. The first one, the farmer will sell the product to Ethiopian national companies that are exporting coffee. We have several of them by the way. Those Ethiopian coffee exporting companies are registered into the Ethiopian commodities exchange and through that they have market links with multinational companies who buy coffee. The second one is the farmer sells the product to Ethiopian coffee distributors. 

Who are the main clients?

Starbucks for example. But the Starbuck coffee you drink in America is not really pure Ethiopian coffee. 

What do you mean?

They buy Ethiopian coffee – aroma and taste – but they mix it with the robusta they buy Nicaragua, Honduras or Brazil. So in the end it’s doesn’t give you the real Ethiopian coffee taste.  

But who are the big importers? 

The Japanese, Germans, Saudis, and the Americans. 

Could you share the coffee ranking worldwide?

First of all, I want to clarify that there are two types of coffee: robusta and arabica. Robusta type of coffee is cultivated widely in the world. Most of the countries who are coffee exporters produce robusta coffee. Namely, the Latin American countries and some countries in Africa. Arabica coffee is produced in very low amount, but it’s the best coffee. And that is the real Ethiopian coffee. You can also find it in Ivory Coast, or in Uganda. The rankings don’t reflect the difference in quality between robusta and arabica. But to reply to your question, Brazil is leading the ranking and we are number 7 worldwide.

I asked you this question because one can be surprised to see countries like Germany, Italy or Portugal as main coffee producers worldwide when they exclusively import coffee. As the Ambassador of Ethiopia to the European Union how do you analyse this situation?

That’s why when I told you we want to create jobs for our youth, it’s also about creating added value. We are actually doing good in that process of adding value to Ethiopian goods that are being exported. We have been engaging with foreign companies, including Italian companies, to cooperate with Ethiopian exporters in value-adding processes inside Ethiopia. The results are still very low, frankly speaking, because the companies in Italy, Portugal or Germany who buy the coffee, process it, package it, have their market networks already in place and get more money for Ethiopian coffee than any Ethiopian farmer. That is one of the reasons we are disappointed with European multinationals in this sector. We are demanding more money for our farmers. Starbucks buys a kilo of Ethiopian coffee for 6 dollars and they sell it for more than 17 dollars. This is unacceptable. 

I’m curious to know how did you defend Ethiopian coffee in Italy. For us, Italy is home of quality expresso.

Well, let me tell you a story. One time I was in Luigi’s café, just a few meters from the Ethiopian Embassy in Rome, and  I heard an Italian guy asking Luigi “fammi un bel caffè italiano!” – make me a good Italian coffee – and then I just laughed. This guy looked at me and asked me “why are you laughing”?  I replied saying that this was the first time I heard about Italian coffee. And he says “yes, we have good Italian coffee” and I replied, “you don’t even have one coffee tree here!” And once again, we come back to the main issue: to add value. We are trying to add value to our coffee production and we have started to move in that direction; value-addition to our primary products. We will soon start to sell the whole package from the farms to the shops. 

Read the article on Brussels Express.

International car manufacturer Volkswagen has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Ethiopia to collaborate and deliver a joint vision for the development of an automotive industry in the country.

The MoU was signed by Thomas Schaefer, Head of the Volkswagen Sub-Sahara Africa Region and Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Abebe Abebayehu in the presence of the Ethiopian Minister for Finance and Economic Cooperation, Ahmed Shide and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, who is on a state visit to Ethiopia.

The signing of the MoU paves the way for Volkswagen and the Ethiopian Government to commence high-level and technical collaboration which is integral to the development of an automotive industry and policy framework.

Volkswagen will focus on four key pillars: the establishment of a vehicle assembly facility, localization of automotive components, introduction of mobility concepts such as app-based car sharing and ride-hailing as well as the opening of a training center.

As such, Volkswagen will work closely with the Ethiopian higher education and training institutions for skills development and capacity building of local talent.

Volkswagen is taking the fast development of the country into account. Over the last ten years, the GDP growth rate in Ethiopia was above 8 percent – one of the highest worldwide. Moreover, Ethiopia is a priority and focus country for Germany under the G20-“Compact with Africa” initiative.

Schaefer commented: “As one of the fastest growing economies and with the second highest population in the continent, Ethiopia is an ideal country to advance our Sub-Saharan Africa development strategy.

Ethiopia becomes the third country in Sub-Saharan Africa to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Volkswagen. It follows Ghana and Nigeria, which both signed MoUs with Volkswagen in August 2018.

Volkswagen has been manufacturing vehicles in South Africa since 1951. In Africa, Volkswagen also has vehicle assembly operations in Algeria, Kenya, and Rwanda.

Under its TRANSFORM 2025+ brand strategy, Volkswagen is strengthening the regions and focusing on new up-and-coming markets. The Sub-Saharan Africa region plays an increasingly important role.

Although the African automotive market is comparatively small today, the region has a bright look-out to develop into an automotive growth market of the future.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially inaugurated the newly expanded Addis Ababa Bole International Airport terminal this Sunday 27 January. The expansion, which began in 2015, will triple the annual passenger capacity to 22 million, making it the biggest airport aviation hub in Africa.

The newly expanded airport terminal has been refurbished with state-of-the-art amenities and high-tech systems, including automated bag drop solutions, e-gates, self-check-in kiosks, baggage handling, and the latest airport security technologies.

With its new duty-free shops, restaurants, auto-walks, escalators, panoramic lifts and many other accommodations, the new facility will take travelers’ experience to a whole new level.

Ethiopian Airlines Group indicated that the airport facility is developed not only to accommodate the current traffic growth at the airport but in due consideration of the growth indicators of the continent including traffic growth forecast and the rising middle class.

Addis Ababa last year overtook Dubai as the leading gateway to Africa. The country also announced that it would start granting visas on arrival to people from Africa. The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

PM Abiy also launched the Skylight hotel, a subsidiary of Ethiopian Airlines.
The five-star luxury hotel complex located five minutes from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport rests on 40, 000 square meter and has 373 rooms, including 27 presidential and executive suites, four restaurants and a conference and banquet hall that can hold 2, 000 people.

In addition to promoting Ethiopian tourism, the hotel will also welcome passengers during transits, stopovers or technical delays.

Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Brussels, the seat of the European Union, on Wednesday evening, where he was scheduled to hold meetings with top officials of the continental bloc.

On Thursday 24 January, during his first visit to the EU institutions, the Prime Minister met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, as well as Council President, Donald Tusk.

Ethiopia and European Union (EU) signed a € 130 million cooperation package following PM Abiy Ahmed’s meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker.

The three new programmes signed yesterday are part of theimplementation of the ‘Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs’, which aims to deepen the economic and trade relations between the two continents, to create sustainable jobs and growth. These financing agreements between the EU and Ethiopia support job creation (€50 million), sustainable energy (€35 million) and the establishment of agro-industrial parks in Ethiopia (€45 million)

During a lunch meeting with HR/VP Mogherini, PM Abiy appreciated the support of the Commission and shared the new outlook of Medemer (synergy) as the foundational philosophy for reforms in the country and Horn region integration.

He shared the priority areas for Ethiopia and effective ways of supporting the reforms, particularly in ensuring democratic elections and enabling a new democratic culture.

Mrs. Mogherini recalled the long-standing relationship between Ethiopia and the European Union and the future collaboration to come.

She affirmed that Europe had noticed the changes the Government has brought to the country and Horn region and committed the Union’s full technical and financial support.

Belgium was the third stop of an official tour that started on Monday in Rome, where PM Abiy met with his Italian counterpart and the president. He also had a meeting with the Pope and heads of other international agencies.

From Rome, he traveled to Davos, Switzerland, where he participated in the World Economic Forum, WEF. In his address, Abiy stressed the resolve of his administration to see through and consolidate wide-ranging reforms started since April 2018.

After pledging to make doing business in Ethiopia easier for everyone who wishes to invest in Ethiopia, he called on investors from all across the world to take advantage of the considerable investment and business potentials available in the country.

Abiy held several high-profile meetings on the sidelines of his participation at the WEF as he continually wooed investors to Africa’s second most populous nation.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addressed the 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos (Switzerland) yesterday.

The Prime Minister told participants about the nationwide reforms undertaken during the past nine months and the economic growth registered in the country.

“Ethiopia today is among the fastest growing economies in the world, consistently averaging growth of over 9%. Poverty has been halved, and education enrolment has markedly increased,” he said.

“Ethiopia’s Gross domestic product (GDP) has multiplied ten fold in 25 years.”

According to the Prime Minister, investment in infrastructure has contributed a lot to the growth and attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), making Ethiopia one of the leading FDI destinations in Africa.

“Our challenges, however, remain formidable.” The challenge, he explained, is to sustain that level of growth, especially to find jobs for a rapidly expanding young population.

“In order to enforce our up word trajectory and achieve even more rapid and sustainable growth, Ethiopia has embarked on a comprehensive reform process since last April,” he said.

The reform is deeply rooted in the philosophy of “medemer” an Amharic word for coming together, which is people-centered and has three interdependent pillars- vibrant democracy, economic vitality and regional integration and openness to the world, he said.

After pledging to make doing business in Ethiopia easier for everyone who wishes to invest in Ethiopia, he called on investors from all across the world to take advantage of the considerable investment and business potentials available in the country.

The Prime Minister said his government is committed to opening up the economy to international investors in telecom, logistics, energy, aviation, railways, and industrial parks. The Premier further said his government would continue to foster public-private partnership.

Besides, Ethiopia will also be hosting the World Economic Forum in 2020. The decision followed a meeting between Chairman of the Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, and PM Abiy Ahmed.

More than 13,000 people have benefited from the amnesty law in the past six months, according to the Federal Attorney General.

The amnesty law, which was passed by the Ethiopian parliament on 20 July 2018, came to an end yesterday after six months.

More than 13, 200 individuals took advantage of the law during this period.

The law grants amnesty for individuals and groups either under investigation or convicted on treason, crime against the constitutional order and armed struggle.

However, criminals convicted of genocide, extrajudicial killings, forced abduction, and committing inhuman torture and beating will not benefit from the law.

After rapid economic growth averaging 10% every year between 2004 and 2014, Ethiopia has emerged as an engine of development in Africa.

And there are no signs that ambitions for further growth are fading. This is clear from the government’s blueprint to achieve middle-income status—or gross national income of at least $1006 per capita – by 2025. This would see a rapid increase in per capita income in Ethiopia, which is currently $783, according to the World Bank.

Ethiopia’s growth has been propelled by at least two factors: the prioritization of agriculture as a key contributor to development and the fast-paced adoption of new technologies to boost the sector.

Ethiopia has seen the fastest growth in irrigation of any African country.
A third of Ethiopia’s GDP is generated through agriculture, and more than 12 million households rely on small-scale farming for their livelihoods. One of the drivers of growth in the agricultural sector has been the expansion of irrigation. The country has seen the fastest growth in irrigation of any African country. The area under irrigation increased by almost 52% between 2002 and 2014.

This was achieved by investing in the sector, and by harnessing technology to expand irrigation to farmers who traditionally relied on rainfall to water their crops. This boosted productivity and income for farmers by helping them extend the growing season and become more consistent in their production.

Meanwhile, only 6% of arable land is currently irrigated across the whole of Africa. This means that there’s huge potential to expand irrigation and unlock economic growth.

These factors are highlighted by a new report from the Malabo Montpellier Panel. The panel convenes experts in agriculture, ecology, nutrition and food security to guide policy choices by African governments. The aim is to help the continent accelerate progress towards food security and improved nutrition.

The panel’s latest report analyses progress—and highlights best practice—in irrigation in six countries. These include Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Niger and South Africa. Other African countries can draw lessons from the report’s insights. The report identified a number of common factors in countries where significant progress has been made to expand irrigation, including key policy and institutional innovations.

In the case of Ethiopia, one of the main reasons for its success is that agriculture and irrigation have been featured on the Ethiopian policy agenda since 1991. In addition, specialized institutions have been set up with clear commitments to maximize the benefits of water control and irrigation systems. In addition, the government has invested in the sector and has plans to continue doing so. It aims to allocate $15 billion to irrigation development by 2020.

Finally, Ethiopia has harnessed the value of a full range of irrigation technologies. These have ranged small-scale interventions to large infrastructure.

A joint project between the Ethiopian Bureau of Agriculture, local extension officers, and an NGO called Farm Africa, for example, helped women and young people adopt small-scale irrigation. This was part of an initiative to increase their incomes and improve their nutrition.

Overall, the project reached nearly 6,400 women and landless people. The irrigation project also benefited 700 farming families.

The experience of Ethiopia and other countries leading on irrigation can help other African governments develop country-specific strategies to effectively take irrigation to scale. The benefits of doing so, such as enhancing on-farm productivity and income, and improving resilience and livelihoods, are transformational.

The expansion in irrigated farming, coupled with reliable agricultural inputs and stable markets for the expected growth in farm products, has the potential to catapult Ethiopia to the forefront of African countries that have embraced agriculture as the engine of economic growth.

Source: Quartz

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was on official visit to Italy, met with his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, in Rome on Monday.

In a joint press conference after the meeting, PM Guiseppe Conte expressed his government’s interest to cover the feasibility study cost for the railway project that links Addis Ababa with the port city of Massawa, Eritrea.

Commenting on Italy’s support, Prime Minister Abiy expressed his gratitude for the government of Italy. “The comprehensive discussion which I had with Giuseppe Conte, in particular, was important to take the bilateral relationship between Ethiopia and Italy to the next level,” he said.

In response to the offer made by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Premier Abiy Ahmed said: “We are excited and accept with great honor Italy’s Plan to extend support on Ethiopia’s plan to link Addis Ababa with Massawa via railway.”

Prime Minister Conte has also expressed his government’s plan to extend support to the soldiers returning from the Ethio-Eritrea border following the peace agreement between the two neighboring countries.

The Prime Minister also called for enhanced cooperation between Ethiopia and Italy in the areas of development, peace, and tourism.

In light with this Prime Minister Abiy conferred with Pope Francis at the Vatican Apostolic Palace upon which the Pope lauded the historic agreement signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea to end border standoff.

The common interests of both Ethiopia and the Vatican City State, including the peace accord with Eritrea, was at the core of the discussion.

Premier Abiy also discussed with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of the Holy State of Vatican and visited the Abyssinians Church of St. Stephen of located in Vatican City, where he was received by Cardinal Berhane Yesus, who recognized the Premier’role in the peace bridge that has been built between Ethiopia and Eritrea on his initiation.

Concluding his two days visit in Italy, PM Abiy Ahmed has arrived in Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum.