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State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Hirut Zemene, welcomed H.E. Christos Stylianides, Humanitarian aid and Crisis Management commission Commissioner of EU ealier today. (December 18).
H.E. Christos Stylianides appreciated the commitment of the government of Ethiopia to undertake a myriad of reform steps including multi-party democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law and gender equality recently. He said the European Union praises the changes, the political and economic reforms in Ethiopia and vows to assist government’s ambitious agenda towards a more democratic and a positive example to the region and beyond. State Minister Hirut thanked the EU for the continued support and commitment to scale up the relationship to a heightened level. She pointed out the strategic engagement with the European Union which includes cooperation in regional peace and security, migration; social and economic development; investment and trade; governance and human rights has depicted EU’s strong commitment to support Ethiopia’s democratic and economic reforms. State Minister Hirut noted the sweeping political and economic reforms in Ethiopia sets itself as a model for the Horn of Africa to become a stable, integrated and peace embracing region. In this regard, Ethiopia welcomes EU’s readiness to support the country in its continued work to ensure deepened EU-Ethiopia cooperation on the strategic engagements, she added. H.E. Christos Stylianides underpinned that the EU stands by Ethiopia to address its key challenges and encourages steps taken toward a greater degree of gender equality, inclusiveness and democratization. The EU-Ethiopia strategic engagement document was signed in June 2016.

A Chinese delegation from Luzhou city, Sichuan Province expressed interest to invest in Ethiopia in areas of industrial parks development. Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dewano Kedir received Chinese Standing Committee of Luzhou Municipal People’s Congress, Deputy Director, Mr. Yao Fukang at his office earlier today (December 17) including high ranked officials of the municipal city of Sichuan Pilot Free Trade Zone and Luzhou National HighTech Zone.
On the occasion, Ambassador Dewano took note of the fast and exemplary transformation that China has made over three decades. He expressed that #Ethiopia has registered a double-digit economic growth and is striving to become the manufacturing hub of Africa, adding that more and more Chinese companies are showing an interest in investing in Ethiopia.
Adding Ethiopia’s interest to bolster and upscale experiences in Industrial Parks Ambassador Dewano appreciated the delegation’s keen interest to investment in Ethiopia. Honorable Deputy Director, Yao Fukang expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome accorded to him and his delegation. He said Ethiopia is a favored lucrative investment destination in #Africa and pledged to further strengthen the bilateral trade and investment ties, underscoring Ethiopia’s well-engineered investment policies and promising future. Ambassador Dewano while thanking the Chinese for choosing and considering Ethiopia as its investment/business destination, underpinned Ethio-China relationship will continue to embark on new horizons to strengthen and cement collaboration on investment promotion, trade and industrial parks development. The Deputy Director further expressed the myriad of Chinese companies in Ethiopia and noted #China’s interest to promote the cooperation in the fields of economic
and trade, machinery and equipment manufacturing, import and export, between Luzhou and Ethiopia. Luzhou city is located in the Southeast part of Sichuan Province, China.

spokesperson, Meles Alem briefed the media regarding the results garnered since Ethiopia began allowing citizens of other African countries to enter the country by issuing visa on arrival. He said, “Ethiopia is taking the dream of free movement in Africa one step further. The number of our African brothers arriving to Ethiopia has increased dramatically and the visa on arrival arrangement is facilitating tourism, economic, regional integration & diplomatic relations.” He further said the decision to relax the visa regime will likely be a boon for the country’s hospitality and conference tourism sectors. The capital- Addis Ababa is one of the world’s largest diplomatic hubs, hosting the seat of the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and dozens of foreign embassies. Meles stressed success has come since Ethiopia started issuing visa online for tourists and other visitors across the world. “This will make travel to Ethiopia easy, simultaneously boosting Ethiopian Airlines international presence steadily in recent years,” he added. The spokesperson further noted Ethiopia is currently undergoing significant political reforms; these political developments, among others; necessitated revisiting the existing nationality law that applies to foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin primarily aiming to reconnect and enable participation in their country’s affairs. He underscored the enhancement of Diaspora participation is playing a significant role in maintaining Ethiopia’s economic growth, conducive investment destination and tourist attraction. It is to be recalled that Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed and leaders of regional States have recently made frequent calls to the Ethiopian Diaspora, more than any time before, to create synergy and actively engage in the development of the country.

In response to Ethiopia being selected for the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s
(MCC) threshold program, which assists countries to become eligible for substantial
MCC financial support, Freedom House issued the following statement:
“The MCC’s new focus on Ethiopia is a well-deserved acknowledgement of the
progress Ethiopia has made in opening political space, advancing freedom of
expression and promoting peace in the Horn of Africa region,” said Jon Temin,
director of Africa Programs at Freedom House. “The government of Ethiopia should
take this acknowledgement and the potential support that comes with it as an
opportunity to press ahead with additional essential reforms. In particular, the
government should accelerate adoption of the civil society organizations
proclamation, strengthen the rule of law, and address the root causes of longstanding ethnic unrest. Critically, the government should reaffirm its commitment
to a free and fair election in 2020 by rolling out a comprehensive electoral roadmap
agreed upon by all major political actors.”

Addis Ababa, December 11, 2018 – The Dire Dawa Industrial Park will be
inaugurated next Sunday, December 16, 2018.
The park, located in the eastern Ethiopia approximately 262 km from Djibouti, will
be inaugurated in the presence of senior government officials, including Prime
Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed.
Other invited guests from abroad are also expected to attend the event, according
to the Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation.
The Jimma industrial park was inaugurated last Saturday in the presence of the
Prime Minister as well as Presidents of Sudan and Djibouti, al-Bashir and Omar
Guelleh, respectively.
Ethiopia has built several industrial parks to attract investment.