The Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse along with Canadian Minister of International Development Karina Gould and Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister and COVAX AMC Engagement Group co-chair, Retno Marsudi will lead the COVID-19 vaccine procurement and distribution program for 92 COVAX AMC member countries, antaranews reported today.
The COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Engagement Group is a forum between the AMC member states and donor countries aimed at procuring and distributing vaccines for AMC member states.
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister and COVAX AMC Engagement Group co-chair, Retno Marsudi said it is a huge responsibility for Indonesia to enable all countries to have equal access to the vaccine through multilateral networks. We will attempt to shoulder the huge responsibility as aptly as possible.
Although COVAX will find it challenging to meet the target of procuring vaccine in the wake of limited resources and preparations of all countries to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, Marsudi expressed belief that close cooperation among all nations would help to achieve the target.
https://ethiopianembassy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Dr-Liya-Jan-13.jpg229436Embassy Content Editorhttps://ethiopianembassy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LOGO-embassy2.pngEmbassy Content Editor2021-01-13 21:22:312021-01-13 21:22:33Health Minister Dr. Lia To Lead COVID 19 Vaccine Procurement, Distribution Program (January 13, 2020)
H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia has met and discussed with cluster leaders of Ethiopia’s Public Diplomacy team today (January 09) at his office.
The meeting aimed at deliberating ways to better use the public diplomatic team in promoting and protecting the sovereignty of the country.
The Deputy Prime Minister spoke at length during the occasion regarding principal issues in the country.
Deliberations have also been made following presentations of detailed plans by the cluster leaders regarding tasks that need to be carried out by the public diplomacy team.
The meeting ended with the Deputy Prime Minister’s appreciation to the proposals submitted by the team and reiteration on the Ministry’s commitment to support and jointly work with the public diplomacy team.
The Ethiopian Public Diplomacy team was established a decade ago where it has shown its crucial role in facilitating smooth people-to-people relationships between Ethiopia and its neighbors, notably people of the Nile Basin countries.
https://ethiopianembassy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/image-2.png251504Embassy Content Editorhttps://ethiopianembassy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LOGO-embassy2.pngEmbassy Content Editor2021-01-11 19:11:332021-01-11 19:11:34Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen confers with Ethiopian Public Diplomacy team Cluster leaders (January 9, 2021)
Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia and Joseph Borrell, High Representative for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of European Union conferred yesterday over the phone and exchanged views on the current humanitarian situation in Tigray regional state.
Demeke briefed the High Representative on the reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in the region which is being implemented under a cluster-based coordination mechanism.
The Government and humanitarian organizations are working in close coordination to effectively address the humanitarian needs in the region, he said.
Both the Deputy Prime Minister and the High Representative have agreed to continue to work closely to scale-up the efforts in the provision of humanitarian assistance in the region and strengthen the closer collaboration between Ethiopian and the European Union.
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H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia and H.E. Ambassador Girma Biru, macroeconomic advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, chaired today (January 05) the regular meeting of the joint forum that was established to tackle challenges of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Ethiopia.
The meeting deliberated the types of problems investors are facing in the country today and measures taken to alleviate the observed hurdles.
At the occasion, H.E. Lelise Neme, Commissioner of Ethiopian Investment Commission, has tabled a paper reflecting on monitoring mechanisms of the post-investment performance of the foreign investors in the country.
The Commissioner also spoke in detail on the performance and suitability of Ethiopia’s business environment in maintaining and expanding the ongoing investments as well as creating business linkages for foreign investors
Mrs. Lelise’s presentation showed that lack of coordination among institutions, bureaucratic bottlenecks, poor understanding of investment guidelines by investors coupled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are observed as bottlenecks for a smooth flow of FDI in the country.
The meeting underscored the importance of working in concert among institutions and charted out the way forward with tasks that stakeholders should carry out.
Ministers and high-level officials as well as representatives of relevant stakeholders attended the meeting.
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The trilateral meeting on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will resume on Sunday January 10, 2021 when experts from the three countries are expected to present identified common positions and differences, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The negotiations on GERD which resumed this week are chaired by South Africa International Cooperation Minister.
Briefing the media today, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Dina Mufti said ministers of water, and foreign affairs were part of the delegations who discussed the way forward based on the modalities presented by the experts.
“Though the modalities were accepted with conditions by our side and the Sudanese side with certain recommendations. But the Egyptian side has entirely rejected the modalities,” the spokesperson revealed.
Finally, the ministers decided that the experts of the respective three countries continue identifying and sorting out differences and common positions that have been registered so far and to come up with the outcomes, he elaborated.
According to the spokesperson, the experts will present common positions by the three parties and the differences to the meeting which will take place on Sunday.
Asked about the Ethio-Sudan border situation, Dina confirmed that Ethiopia has still a firm position that the situation will be resolved in a peaceful manner through dialogue and diplomatic means.
He noted that “Ethiopia always considers the big picture of the two countries’ relation. That is why its doors are still open for dialogue and negotiations to settle the situation in a sustainable manner.”
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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, H.E. Mr. Demeke Mekonnen discussed today (January 04) with Ambassadors and representatives of members of Human and Resilience Donor Group (HRDG) on the current humanitarian situation in Tigray.
Attending the meeting were also H.E. Mufarihat Kamil, Minister of Peace, H.E.Redwan Hussein, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mitiku Kassa Commissioner for National Disaster Risk Management, and Director for Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA).
Mr. Demeke appreciated member countries of the Group for their support and briefed the Ambassadors on the ongoing humanitarian activities in the Tigray region and the results achieved thus far.
The Deputy Prime Minister said food items, commodities, and medical supplies are being provided in the region to address the needs of the beneficiaries.
As agreed between the Government of Ethiopia and the UN Resident Coordinator, and using the existing coordination mechanism, the provision of humanitarian assistance is going as planned said the Deputy Prime Minister.
Recalling the colossal destruction caused on infrastructure by the TPLF junta, Mr. Demeke briefed the Ambassadors on the daunting task of reconstruction that is now underway with telecommunication lines being restored in almost all parts of the region and financial institutions resumed their operations.
The Deputy Prime Minister also said that relevant government institutions are working closely with donor communities and will continue to do so to effectively and timely address issues of refugees and those who need humanitarian assistance.
The interim administration is also working tirelessly in making sure that different levels of the administration of the region provide the necessary services including engaging the community to effectively respond to the development needs of the people in the region, said Mr. Demeke.
Ministers and other officials of the Ethiopian government present at the meeting also provided detailed information on the work that is underway to address the humanitarian situation in Tigray.
An understanding was reached to continue the engagement with the Group to work together to further scale-up humanitarian activities in the region.
The Ambassadors appreciated the government of Ethiopia for taking the initiative to brief them on current issues in detail.
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The virtual meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Water Affairs of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan is held on 03 January 2021. The meeting is convened by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the AU Executive Council.
The Ministers exchanged views on the continuation of the trilateral negotiation focusing on a draft document presented by the experts assigned by the Chairperson of the African Union. Ethiopia pronounced its positive outlook towards the draft document and expressed its willingness to use it as a single work document for the trilateral negotiation. Similarly, Sudan conveyed the importance of the document for the progress of the negotiation and its willingness to proceed with the negotiation with a defined role of the AU experts. Egypt categorically rejected the document.
Most of the issues on the first filling and annual operation of the GERD are agreed on. The main difference lies on the co-relations between the GERD Guidelines and Rules and the future water development projects on the Abbay Basin.
The GERD is a non-consumptive hydroelectric generating dam. Any agreement over the dam, which is being negotiated in the absence of a comprehensive water treaty and the prevalence of an unjust status-quo, shall be considerate of these fundamental factors. Ethiopia will not agree to a GERD deal that will in any way restrict its right to use the Nile waters.
On this basis, Ethiopia is committed to conclude the negotiation with good faith to reach an agreement. Accordingly, Ethiopia forwarded alternative approaches to Egypt and Sudan, which is hoped to garner their affirmative response.
In the coming week, the trilateral meetings will continue at expert’s level with oversight of ministers of water affairs, to take stock of agreed and outstanding issues to be presented to the six ministers meeting that is expected to be held on Sunday the 10th of January 2021.
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