On the picture Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom and Federica Mogherini – Picture by EU.
By Mission of Ethiopia to the EU, Embassy to the Benelux countries.
12 to 13 January 2015, Brussels: the Foreign Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia H.E. Dr Tedros Adhanom was on official visit in Brussels, accompanied by a high-level delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During his visit, H.E. Dr. Tedros held several meetings with EU officials including EU High Representative/Vice President of the European Commission, several EU Commissioners and members of the European Parliament.
The discussion between Minister Tedros and HRVP Federica Mogherini underlined that the European Union would continue its strategic engagement with Ethiopia to support reforms and the promotion of social and economic growth through its development cooperation programs. A first step for this will be the signing of a strategic partnership agreement and organizing an EU-Ethiopia Business Forum on the second quarter of this year.
The High Representative and the commissioner for Migration also discussed with the Foreign Minister the follow-up of the agreement on Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility signed in November last year on the margins of La Valletta Summit. High Representative Mogherini recognized Ethiopia’s significant effort in hosting more than 700,000 refugees. It was agreed that the EU and Ethiopia would “work together to tackle irregular migration, including return, and to better take advantage of the opportunities provided by well-managed migration.”
Both partners also welcomed the fact that the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa had already started financing projects in Ethiopia. During the discussion, HRVP Mogherini and Minister Tedros have raised and discussed range of issues notably the Horn of Africa peace and geopolitical situations where Ethiopia is playing a crucial role in terms of peace, security and stability and that the EU would continue to support these efforts. The Foreign Minister also updated the HRVP on the recent protest in Oromiya region to which the Minister explained the reality on the ground.
In another meeting with Dr. Tedros, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Mr. Christos Stylianides, noted that the El-Niño induced drought needed quick intervention and collaboration and expressed EU’s utmost solidarity with the people of Ethiopia, adding that the EU was looking for updated assessment on the recent drought in a bid to enhance more support.
During a discussion with Neven Mimica, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, they underlined the importance of scaling up various areas of bilateral and regional partnerships, including Ethiopia’s progresses, enhancing development cooperation and promoting regional integration in various economic and infrastructure frontiers. It was to the pleasure of our delegation to hear from Commissioner Mimica that depending on the effective and efficient utilization of the funds allocated to Ethiopia on the 11th EDF, there would be a possibility to get additional funds to finance projects after the mid-term review.
Owning to the fact that Ethiopia’s strong track record of prudent use of funds only to their intended purposes, we strongly believe that Ethiopia will get additional funds. H.E. Dr. Tedros also met Mr. Gilles de Kerchove EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, who commended Ethiopia’s unparalleled role in maintaining peace and stability as well as forging integration projects in the Horn of Africa. He expressed EU’s solidarity with Ethiopia in the fight against extremism and terrorism, and asserted that given Ethiopia is a stable country in the chaotic and an unstable region, cooperation in the intelligence areas will also be considered.
The meeting with MEP Louis Mitchel, MEP Elmar Brok and MEP Linda McAven was also a good opportunity to discuss various issues of interest to both Ethiopia and the European Union. This visit was organized as a follow up meeting to the high level visit of EU delegation led by HRVP Mogherini to Ethiopia in October 2014, during which the Ethio-EU engagement was agreed to be elevated ;to a higher level. The official relations between Ethiopia and the European Union were established 40 years ago.
Both partners successfully cooperate in areas such as development, international migrations and stability in the Horn of Africa. The continuous and increased development cooperation, the signing of Joint Declaration for a Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility, the agreement to elevate the relationship to a higher level and to organize an EU-Ethiopia business form and the ever increasing mutual understanding between the two sides attest this strong relation.
For more information:
Mission of Ethiopia to the EU, Embassy to the Benelux countries: http://www.ethiopianembassy.be/en/
