Nigerian and Ethiopian authorities have agreed to deepen relationship in the area of trade and investment, tourism and agriculture.
Addressing a joint press conference on Wednesday at the forecourt of the President Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, President Goodluck Jonathan and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Dessalene, also agreed to collaborate in the fight against terrorism.
The agreement was reached after a meeting the two leaders held following the two day working visit to Nigeria by the Ethiopian leader.
The two leaders commended the high level of visits among them and resolved to maintain this in order to promote and deepen mutual understanding and cooperation
The two leaders also talked about the insurgency and insecurity currently plaguing African countries and sought ways to resolve the problem and promote international peace and security.
The two African leaders condemned the lingering crisis in Somalia, South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic and resolved to remain committed to the efforts to find lasting solutions to them.
Secretary-General Appoints Lieutenant General Yohannes Gebremeskel Tesfamariam of Ethiopia force commander of United Nations Mission in South Sudan
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Lieutenant-General Yohannes Gebremeskel Tesfamariam of Ethiopia as the Force Commander for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Lieutenant-General Tesfamariam succeeds Major-General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana, who completed his assignment on 9 June 2014. The Secretary-General is grateful for Major-General Sakyi’s dedication and leadership in UNMISS.
Lieutenant-General Tesfamariam brings to the position 35 years of experience with the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and the United Nations in conflict-affected areas, including as the Head of the Peacekeeping Department and Head of the Military Intelligence Department in the Ethiopian Ministry of National Defence and as Commander of the Army Corps and the Government of Ethiopia Commissioner for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Most recently, Lieutenant-General Tesfamariam served as the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei.
Lieutenant-General Tesfamariam has a master’s degree in peace and security from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Infrastructure sectors contributed 0.6 percentage points to Ethiopia’s annual per capital GDP growth over the last decade. Raising the country’s infrastructure endowment to that of the region’s middle-income countries could add an additional 3 percentage points to infrastructure’s contribution to growth.
Ethiopia has achieved stellar growth rates, In the past decade, the country has consistently achieved real GDP growth levels of over ten percent annually, according to the African Development Bank.
Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan aims for the country to achieve middle income status by 2025.
To be classified as such, a country must realise income per person of $1,430 — Ethiopia’s is currently at just $470.
In Africa, as competition for raw resources heats up globally, economic and political elites in the West are turning to Africa for quick and generous capital gains and for the promotion of British and American geostrategic interests.
Ethiopia’s infrastructure successes include developing Ethiopia Airlines, a leading regional carrier; upgrading its network of trunk roads; and rapidly expanding access to water and sanitation.
The country’s greatest infrastructure challenge lies in the power sector, where a further 8,700 megawatts of generating plant are needed over the next decade, implying a doubling of current capacity. The transport sector faces the challenges of low levels of rural accessibility and inadequate road maintenance. Ethiopia’s ICT sector currently suffers from a poor institutional and regulatory framework.
Addressing Ethiopia’s infrastructure deficit will require a sustained annual expenditure of $5.1 billion over the next decade. The power sector alone requires $3.3 billion annually, with $1 billion needed to facilitate regional power trading. That level of spending represents 40 percent of the country’s GDP and a tripling of the $1.3 billion spent annually in the mid-2000s.
As of 2006, there was an annual funding gap of $3.5 billion. Improving road maintenance, removing inefficiencies in power (notably underpricing), and privatizing ICT services could shrink the gap. But Ethiopia needs a significant increase in its already proportionally high infrastructure funding and careful handling of public and private investments if it is to reach its infrastructure targets within a reasonable time.
More than 5.6 billion tree seedlings are set for planting across the nation this rainy season, said Ethiopian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
State Minister Qare Qewecha said consolidated forestry development works will be carried out this season.
As he told the participants on the International Environmental Protection Day observed at a national level in Assosa, over 5.6 billion tree seedlings are prepared to be planted across the country during this rainy season to restore the natural resources of the country.
Planting has already started in some localities, he added.
Qare noted that Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a heritage to pass to generations and the environmental protection project is meant to safeguard it against silt.
EU ambassador to Addis Ababa, Chantal Hebert told reporters that Ethiopia has become effective in eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child and maternal mortality; and making primary education accessible to children, controlling malaria, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and in sustainable environmental protection .
According to Ambassador Chantal Herbert, Ethiopia is on the right track to meet most of the Millennium Development Goals before 2015 .She also indicated that Ethiopia has become successful in job creation and in encouraging entrepreneurial ventures and improving lives of its people. Allocation of 70 percents of the nation's budget to poverty reducing sectors such as education, health and infrastructure has helped to the achievement of the success; she added .
She also reminded that if the economic growth of the country continues with the current pace, Ethiopia will be able to achieve a middle income nation status by 2025.
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed on Wednesday met with his Ethiopian counterpart Hailemariam Desalegn in Addis Ababa for talks following the conclusion of a special session of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The meeting focused on ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and possibilities for co-operation on improving peace and security in the region, according to a press release from Ahmed’s office.
Abdiweli thanked Ethiopia for contributing troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia, and said they had discussed ways for Ethiopia to expand its efforts in helping to maintain peace and security in Somalia.
Desalegn said both Ethiopia and Somalia were united in wishing to see Somalia stable and ruled by law, offering the full support of his country’s armed forces in helping achieve this goal.
In the past decade, the country has consistently achieved real GDP growth levels of over ten percent annually, according to the African Development Bank.
Ethiopia's Growth and Transformation Plan aims for the country to achieve middle income status by 2025.
Meeting with Ethiopian officials on
Monday sees President El-Sisi continue promises of 'dialogue' and cooperation
between the two countries
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros
Adhanom has invited Egypt's newly-inaugurated President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to
visit his country, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.
The
invitation came during a meeting on Monday at the presidential headquarters in
Cairo's Heliopolis district, where El-Sisi met with Adhanom in addition to
Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and Ethiopia's ambassador to Egypt,
Mahmoud Dardeer.
A spokesman
for the Egyptian presidency, Ihab Badawy, said that El-Sisi stressed the deep,
historical bonds between the two countries and insisted that the issue
concerning Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam "should be solved through
dialogue".
El-Sisi
said that Egypt understands Ethiopia's needs for development and thus Ethiopia
should understand Egypt's needs to its share of the Nile.
According
to Badawy, the Ethiopian foreign minister stressed that his country does not
intend to minimise Egypt's share of Nile water and that the dam's purpose is to
generate electricity.
Adhanom
also said that he is looking forward to having El-Sisi meet with Ethiopian
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the African Union Summit scheduled to
take place in late June in Equatorial Guinea.
Meanwhile,
El-Sisi showed his intention to visit Ethiopia to stress the importance of
cooperation between the two countries.
President El-Sisi says won't allow
rift with Ethiopia
Egypt's newly inaugurated President
Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi vows to ease crisis with Addis Ababa after a months-long
impasse over Ethiopia's controversial Grand Renaissance Dam project
Egypt's
newly elected President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said he would not allow a rift to
develop between Cairo and Addis Ababa, who have been locked in a stalemate over
access to the Nile water.
Ties
between Egypt and Ethiopia have soured since Addis Ababa launched the
construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam that Egypt fears will
substantially harm its share of the Nile River, the country's main source of
potable water.
However,
El-Sisi unequivocally stated during his inaugural address at the Qubba Palace
on Sunday evening that he would not allow friction to take place with Ethiopia.
"I
won't allow the Renaissance Dam to cause a crisis or problem with sisterly
Ethiopia," he said in the speech addressed to Egyptian public figures
after he was sworn in as president of Egypt.
El-Sisi
stressed that Egypt is keen on safeguarding Pan-Africanism which, he said, the
country cannot disengage from.
Ethiopia's
Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom headed a delegation that attended a morning
swearing-in ceremony at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace. Attendees included
Arab royals, African leaders and dignitaries from among Egypt's western allies.
Source
Ahram Online , Monday 9 Jun 2014
Ethiopia clearly stated that the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam harms no Riparian state including Egypt; It rather enhances the benefits of lower
riparian states-the Sudan and Egypt!
