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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia launches a two-month-long social media campaign today (December 30), trending under the phrase Rising Ethiopia and targeting all Ethiopians and those of Ethiopian origin.

The campaign aims to promote the good qualities of Ethiopia and assuage the effects of the misguided media narrative that dominated the air for the last couple of months.

Besides mobilizing Ethiopians living abroad for a common good, the campaign will also introduce Ethiopian investment potential to the international community and build up Ethiopia as an emerging tourism destination.

Key themes will anchor the campaign in different phases, including Tourism, Culture, Diaspora Business, Investment, and flagship projects and charities.

The first phase of the campaign (December 30-January 24) will start today with a webinar discussion and showcase Ethiopia’s Tourism potential and attractions in various activities.

The final phase of the campaign (Ethiopia Giving Week) will mobilize the public to raise funds for some flagship projects, including the GERD and charity causes.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will run the campaign in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Tourism Ethiopia, Ethiopian Investment Commission, concerned individuals, all Ethiopians, and media outlets.

Note: We are live streaming today’s online opening discussion of the campaign via our Amharic and English language Facebook pages.

The Ethiopian Government has vowed to strengthen its ongoing efforts to peacefully resolve the border issue with Sudan.

Despite ease of tension along the border now, the government will reinforce its efforts to peacefully resolve the problem, said Ambassador Dina Mufti, Spokesperson of MFA.

In his bi-weekly press briefing today, Ambassador Dina said that Ethiopia has no interest to enter into war with Sudan in the border conflict masterminded by conflict profiteers.

However, “it is impossible to say that some Sudanese Government officials are not involved in the problem,” he said.

Commenting on latest developments in Tigray regional state, he said things are returning to normalcy and misguided narratives on the operation are slowly changing.

The media are slowly but surely understanding that the TPLF clique had disrupted electric and communication lines, demolished bridges, roads and airline runways, he said.

Owing to the economic diplomacy carried out by Ethiopian officials, investors from India, Turkey, the UAE, and China have shown interest to invest in Ethiopia, Ambassador Dina said.

According to him, some of the representatives of companies in these countries have paid a visit to the country and showed interest to invest in agriculture, construction, textile, edible oil production and mining.

Regarding citizen-centred diplomacy, the Spokesperson said Ethiopia had repatriated a total of 328 citizens from Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Heads of the interim administration of Tigray regional state have held discussion with residents of Mekelle city.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Mulu Nega, CEO of the interim administration, Dr Abrham Belay, senior leadership of Tigray Prosperity Party, Maj.Gen Belay Seyoum, Chief Commander of the North Command and Ataklti Haileselassie, mayor of the interim administration.

Residents represented from all sub-cities of Mekelle, including religious leaders and traditional leaders, attended the meeting.

The participants condemned TPLF’s armed attack against the north command of the defence forces and requested the administration to strengthen its structure up to the lower level.

They further demanded the administration to organize and deploy police forces to maintains peace and security of the city as well as to restore internet services.

The officials, who chaired the meeting, responded to the questions raised by the participants.

Ethiopia and the World Bank have signed a loan agreement of $100 million for the women entrepreneurship development project (WEDP).

The project aims to increase the earnings and employment of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) owned or partly owned by female entrepreneurs.

The project will also provide business trainings to female micro and small business-owners registered with the WEDP program as well as technical assistance to implementing agencies such as TVET colleges and city MSE development offices.

The agreement was signed here today by State Minister of Finance, Yasmin Wohabrebbi, and World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea, Ousmane Dione.

Yasmin said, “the timely response, to reach those that have been highly impacted by the pandemic is critical in ensuring the financial sector has adequate liquidity to reach MSEs to reduce the loss of livelihoods and jobs.”

She also explained the importance of developing tailored financial instruments, which allow MSEs to survive during challenging times saying “Women-owned businesses are disproportionately affecting by limited access to credit because they are less likely to present collateral guarantees to access credit”.

The State Minister also emphasized inclusive growth and economic empowerment of women and youth are at the center of Ethiopia’s development agenda.

Ousmane Dione for his part said “the Bank has been working to open doors for female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia by providing the necessary finance, skills, services and support they need to grow their business in order to grow their earnings and create jobs for Ethiopians.

“The WEDP additional financing aims to secure the gains made by the previous phases of the project which have been rated highly satisfactory due to its innovative and effective model of reaching women entrepreneurs.

“The project, in the past, has helped Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) upscale to reach women entrepreneurs, who often fall in the category of underserved market segments.

“The project has enabled first-time borrowers to access loans through introducing innovative approaches such as data-driven credit scoring technologies, which can predict the ability of a borrower to repay a loan and in turn have significantly reduced collateral requirements.”