Prime Minister Hailemariam visits Nigeria…. An Ethiopian delegation, headed by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, paid an official visit to the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Tuesday and Wednesday last week (June 24 - 25). The Prime Minister was accompanied by Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros Adhanom, and other high-level officials. The delegation was welcomed on arrival by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Nigeria. During their bilateral meeting, both leaders spoke of the long-standing and strategic partnership that existed between Nigeria and Ethiopia and commended exchanges of official visits at leadership level. They noted that bilateral relations in the economic area were weak and agreed to improve the status quo by signing a number of agreements during the forthcoming Joint Ministerial Commission. The two sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Diplomatic Training and Agricultural Cooperation. Prime Minister Hailemariam emphasized the parallels existing between the two countries which, he said, could serve as building blocks to strengthen their relationship. He mentioned that the two countries had populations that amounted to over 200 million people, the largest actual and potential markets on the continent. They both developed federal systems as the most suitable means of governing their diversified, multicultural and multi-religious societies. They were both committed to a similar agenda of suitable economic growth and development to improve the lives of their peoples and for the continent as a whole. Prime Minister Hailemariam stressed the importance of sustained cooperation and support for the agenda to encourage the resurgence of African industrialization adding that this would save Africa from becoming “a dumping site for foreign producers.” The Prime Minister said he appreciated the excellent bilateral relations existing between Nigeria and Ethiopia in the political field, but admitted that from the economic perspective the two countries had failed to exploit their cordial and longstanding relations. He further noted that existing trade relations in no way mirrored the excellent political relations they enjoyed. Prime Minister Hailemariam expressed his concern over the unimplemented trade agreement between the two countries and agreed that they needed to work hard to lift their trade relations to the level they deserved. In this regard, he said there were considerable possibilities available for developing economic ties and it was time to encourage their respective private sectors to establish greater interaction and collaboration. The Prime Minister said that there were some signs of increased interest in trade and investment between Nigeria and Ethiopia. He welcomed the activities of Mr Aliko Dangote, President and CEO of the Dangote group, in leading the way and pioneering large-scale Nigerian investment in Ethiopia. He urged other investors to follow suit. Referring to the fact that Nigeria was the second most frequent destination for Ethiopian airlines after China, the Prime Minister expressed his belief that the fact that Ethiopian Airlines now flew to four different Nigerian cities would help improve the existing economic ties. At the joint press conference the two leaders gave at State House, Abuja, at the end of the official visit, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan announced that both countries had agreed to comprehensively deepen mutual cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, culture, tourism, agriculture and energy as well as security. Both leaders recognized the necessity of jointly promoting development and prosperity through the consolidation of bilateral ties in priority areas including trade, investment, agriculture, the establishment of enabling factors for cooperation and the re-activation of investment-friendly regulatory frameworks. To realize sustainable economic growth and development, both sides committed themselves to extending support to the promotion of regional and global peace and security. They denounced all forms of terrorism and extremism and its growing threat to African countries. Prime Minister Hailemariam stressed that terrorism was “a global phenomenon that had to be tackled together. “It should not be left to this or that region or this or that country. We have to bear in mind the genesis of this terrorism,” he said. He noted that the increasing surge of suicide bombing by terrorists underlined the need to eliminate their strongholds, stressing that sustaining the momentum in the fight against terrorism was vital. He said that the current situation in Somalia had pushed Al-Shabaab insurgents to resort to suicide bombing, adding that cooperative security in the region and the ideological bankruptcy of the threat encouraged the fading away of terrorism and extremism. He noted that terrorism and killing of people had “nothing to do with religion or political ambition.” He suggested that countries which were vulnerable to terrorist attacks, including Nigeria and Ethiopia, must lead the process of fighting against terrorist activity and the indiscriminate killing of innocent people. They must remain committed to continuing the fight against terrorism until it was wiped out. President Jonathan said Nigeria could draw lessons from Ethiopia’s experience in the fight against terrorism. He recognized that Ethiopia-Nigeria economic ties had not enjoyed steady development and stressed the urgency of strengthening cooperation in the areas of agriculture, power and commerce. This, he said, would enable the two nations to generate jobs for youths and advance the cause of development. The President appreciated what he described as Ethiopia’s commendable efforts in the development of power generation, agriculture, commerce and industry. During his visit to Nigeria, Prime Minister Hailemariam attended the ground-breaking ceremony of Centenary City in Abuja. Centenary City is a new government project to build a new city on a 1,000 hectares of land located several kilometers southeast of Abuja itself.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 03:48:50 +0000
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