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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Demeke Mekonnen has conferred with Chief of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi on various issues.

Demeke said that the discussion held focused at ways of addressing outstanding issues and crisis of the refugees in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is committed to address the outstanding issues, he added.

The government of Ethiopia has focused on the rehabilitation, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance issues and as the same time it is addressing issues related to refugees in Tigray Region, he added.

It is to be stated that the UNHCR Chief has paid official visit to Refugee camps in Tigray and related activities in the region.

Ethiopia is the leading African country to shelter greater number of refugees in several camps across the country.

Ministry of Trade and Industry has launched the first-ever online trade registration and licensing system in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen and other high ranking government officials

The new system is said to enable members of the business community to get their trade registered and licensed without physical presence to headquarters of ministerial and regional bureau of service providing institutions.

It is stated on the occasion that the business people can access the service through mobile phones of personal computers from wherever they are.

The online trade registration and licensing system would help traders save time, labor and cost and further transform the sector, it is learned.

The Council of Ministers, in its 95th regular session, discussed various issues and passed decisions accordingly.

In a statement issued regarding the decisions, the Office of Prime Minister indicated that the council has passed a resolution to grant debt relief for public development enterprises that have been engaged in construction of several mega projects across the country.

The decision has been passed in the light of some administrative shortcomings and poor performances the enterprises have encountered due to lack of thorough preparations before they embarked on their businesses, the statement indicates.

The Public enterprises have been taken as part of the homegrown economic development framework adjustment in an effort underway to enhance their capabilities.

According to the statement, the council has also endorsed a regulation on establishment a corporation tasked to manage debt of public enterprises, ensure proper debt and resource management activities and decided to publish the guideline on Negarit Gazeta.

Council further discussed approved a draft proclamation on loan agreement signed with an international association for implementation of women entrepreneurs development project. The 100 Million USD loan is said vital to address impacts posed by the pandemic and financially support small and medium level enterprises run by women.

The council also discussed the draft proclamation for the approval of a loan agreement with Finland based Danske Bank for the implementation of the Meteorological Observation Infrastructure and Prediction Capacity Building Project. Such agreement is intended to build state-of-the-art weather monitoring radar, lightning detection and mobile air pollution monitoring stations and human resource capacity for the National Meteorological Agency.

The management and other related expenses of the loan which amounts 8.8 Million Euros is said to be covered by the Finnish government.

Finally, the Council discussed a draft proclamation of federal advocacy licensing and administration. Taking some gaps seen in the existing advocacy proclamation in to consideration, the council endorsed the draft law which is said to consider multi-secoral reforms of the country and international best practices.

After deliberating on the draft proclamation, the House decided to submit it to the House of Peoples’ Representatives for approval.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen has today addressed concerns of international community through a virtual meeting facilitated by Atlantic Council.

Demeke has highlighted participants of the virtual meeting where some US Congress members and Biden Administration staff members were in attendance on current issues in the country and the region at large.

The meeting sufficiently addressed several issues ranging from the current situation in Tigray and matters related to humanitarian assistance efforts and access to aid agencies in the region to allegations of human rights abuses and Eritrean refugees, including the status of the Ethiopia-Sudan border dispute.

The Deputy Prime Minister delivered briefings together with State Minister, Ambassador Redwan Hussien and, Tesfahun Gobezay, Director General at Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).

The meeting noted that following the successful completion of the law enforcement operation against the unwarranted attack of the TPLF clique on the ENDF, the region has returned to normalcy with the joint efforts of the federal government and the Interim government of Tigray in rehabilitating the socio-economic fabric of the society and rebuilding infrastructures destroyed by the junta.

The representatives of the Ethiopian government also provided accurate figures correcting the erroneous claims of some reports about the number of people who need humanitarian assistance in Tigray reiterating that 1.8 million people have already been in Productive Safety Net Programs and those of the people who are affected as a result of the crisis are 700, 000 people.

In this regard, they said, one million and 46 thousand people have been reached with the humanitarian assistance dispatched to the region, from all of the 92 distribution centers in the region’s zones, saving a few who have some security restrictions.

Downplaying the claims of some staff of INGOs and international organizations to politicize the matter, the Ethiopian officials said that the government of Ethiopia is providing humanitarian assistance for the people of Tigray and readying for partners to visit the area based on the guidelines of the government.

The issue of Eritrean refugees has also been a subject of discussion where the Ethiopian representatives expressed their uneasiness in witnessing false and politically motivated allegations even though local and International Agencies have addressed humanitarian assistance to 60% of the total Eritrean refugees in Tigray who are specifically sheltered in Mai Ayni and Adi Harush camps.

The remaining Eritrean refugees, who were in the sub-standard Shimelba camp and the inhospitable Hitsats site, where Eritrean opposition used to get military training from the junta, are sheltered in different parts of Tigray and the Amhara region, they added.

The meeting also highlighted the grave human rights violations of the TPLF clique, particularly in Mikadra, as attested by independent and international human rights groups and underscored the need to further investigate allegations of sexual violence by members of the ENDF, although no independent body has provided evidence yet for this and other egregious claims.

Regarding the Ethiopia-Sudan border dispute, it is said that Ethiopia is committed to resolving the problem through negotiation but requires the Sudanese side to evacuate their army that has encroached deep into the Ethiopian territories destroying lives and properties of Ethiopian farmers.