Day: May 17, 2023

The Vice President of the Republic of Colombia, Francia Elena Márquez Mina, has arrived today in Addis Ababa for a two-day official visit to Ethiopia.

The Vice President was warmly welcomed by Ethiopia’s Minister of Women and Social Affairs, Ergoge Tesfaye on arrival at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport this afternoon.

Francia Elena Márquez Mina is expected to hold discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonnen, and other high-ranking Ethiopian government officials during her visit.

The discussions will focus on ways to bolster bilateral cooperation between Ethiopia and Colombia and other issues of mutual concern.

Ethiopia and Colombia have been working to further enhance their age-long bilateral relations, it is learned.

Currently, Colombia is working to open its embassy in Addis Ababa with a view to bolster its ties with Ethiopia.

The vice-president of Colombia is on tour in several African countries.

She had visited South Africa and Kenya and Ethiopia is her final leg to complete her tour of the continent.

The objective of the tour is to strengthen the relations of Colombia with countries in Africa.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Anticipatory Action approach is vital to predict hazards, prevent or reduce acute humanitarian impacts in the IGAD region, IGAD Disaster Risk Management Program Manager, Dr. Ahmed Amdihun said.

IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), in collaboration with key partners have organized a joint multi-stakeholder Anticipatory Action workshop which aims to establishing a regional guiding framework for implementation of Anticipatory Action in the IGAD region.

The workshop is underway under the theme ‘Better Together-Lessons Learned and Charting the way forward for Early Warning and Anticipatory Early Actions’, it was learned.

According to Ahmed, Anticipatory Action (AA) approach is a fundamental shift in how we in the IGAD region tackle disasters, requiring a more proactive approach as opposed to a traditional reactive approach to disasters.

During the three-day workshop, stakeholders are expected to discuss on various issues, including appreciating the progress and challenges in advancing early warning response at the regional and national level, he said.

Efforts will be made to have a common understanding of Anticipatory Action, principles, terminology, and implementation framework, he added.

The workshop will help share knowledge and experience in the bottlenecks and opportunities relating to AA at national and subnational levels, he elaborated.

According to the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, Early Warning and Response Directorate Director, Taye Getachew, the workshop is attended by relevant actors from IGAD member countries.

During the workshop, participants will get insights about the current available financing mechanisms for AA and explore potential financing mechanisms, he said.

Participants will chart the way-forward for AA in the IGAD region, review and validation of the regional road maps, he elaborated.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The United Nations(UN) and its partners today called for three billion dollar to help millions of people in the country and hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries, a joint press release issued by UNHCR/OCHA said.

As the death toll mounts, humanitarian needs soar, and displacement grows, the UN is launching two response plans to provide food, health care, shelter, protection and other critical assistance, the joint press release stated.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan has been revised due to the soaring needs spurred by the current crisis. It now requires 2.56 billion USD, an increase of 800 million USD from just a few months ago, to help 18 million people until the end of this year, making it the largest appeal ever issued for Sudan.

The Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan seeks 470.4 million USD to support refugees, returnees and host communities in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

According to the press release, the funds are intended to help over one million people, including refugees, returnees and third country nationals.

“This conflict is a cruel blow for the people of Sudan, already staggering under the weight of a desperate humanitarian situation. The desire, willingness and impatience of humanitarian agencies to deliver remains as strong as ever,” it quoted Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths as saying.

The press release also quoted the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi as saying: “More than a month into this crisis, countless people remain terrified inside Sudan, and those who have fled across the country’s many borders are in need of help, often finding themselves in places where access is extremely hard and resources strained. Humanitarians are working hard to respond but we need – once again – to call on countries and individuals with the means, to step up and provide the resources so we can help people who have lost everything.”

The most recent fighting has already displaced more than 840,000 people inside Sudan, it said adding over 220,000 refugees and refugee returnees have fled the country, it added.

The revised Humanitarian Response Plan will focus on swiftly ramping up food and water and sanitation and other lifesaving assistance. It will also increase its focus on protection, including the protection of children and the prevention of gender-based violence.

The Refugee Response Plan will help host countries to coordinate the response with a “whole-of-society” approach in support of host governments and communities. It outlines the multisector strategy and financial requirements of 140 partners to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to those who have been forced to flee across borders.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Finance Minister Ahmed Shide has called on development partners to increase strong financial support in addition to the government’s efforts to rebuild conflict-affected areas in Ethiopia.

Ahmed presented the nine month performance report of the Ministry of Finance to the Planning, Budget and Finance Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples’ Representative today.

On the occasion, he called on the development partners to increase their financial support to rebuilding conflict-affected areas in Ethiopia.

The financial support of some development partners was lower compared to the plan, he indicated.

The ministry planned to get 2.9 billion USD in aid and loan from development partners in the past 9 months of Ethiopia Fiscal year and obtained 1.4 billion aids and 404.4 million USD in loans, which is 62.2 percent of the plan, it was learned.

Strengthening effective implementation of the peace agreement and realization of the prepared Homegrown Economic Reform agenda 2 will help improve the resources mobilization to rebuild and accelerate development in the country, he said.

The minister observed that there is improvement in terms of economic diplomacy during the implementation of the peace agreement.

Under the Rehabilitation and Construction Program, the minister reminded that the ministry conducted Ethiopia Damage and Needs Assessment Report and submitted it to the government.

According to the report, the damage is estimated at 22 billion USD, which is 20.4 percent of the GDP, and the economic loss is estimated at 6 billion USD or 5.5 percent of GDP.

In order to reverse the damage, a five-year plan under the title: Ethiopia Resilient Recovery and Reconstruction Planning Framework, has been prepared to be implemented from 2023-2028.

It is indicated that 20 billion USD is needed for the implementation of the projects.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Ambassador of Ethiopia to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Oumer Hussein, met with Dr. Ali bin Harmal, First Vice Chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber on Tuesday.

In the discussion, they noted the steady progress shown in bilateral economic ties between Ethiopia and UAE.

They also agreed to encourage companies under the Chamber to do Business in Ethiopia, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Abu Dhabi Chamber plays a major role in strengthening trade relations on a local, regional and international levels.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Addis Ababa May 16/2023 (ENA)The commencement of Ethiopian Airlines direct flight between Addis Ababa and Atlanta will serve as a bridge for the development of socio-economic cooperation between the two sister cities by facilitating tourism, trade, investment and cultural exchanges, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Mesfin Tasew underscored.

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest network operator in Africa has officially commenced a new service between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Atlanta, USA on Tuesday.

During the inaugural ceremony, Ethiopian CEO said Ethiopian Airlines uses Addis Ababa as its main hub and gateway to connect Africans together and to the rest of the world.

Atlanta is one of the biggest cities in the USA that is home to several Ethiopian diaspora and African Americans, he added.

In this regard, the CEO indicated that direct flight between Addis Ababa and Atlanta will serve as a bridge for the development of socio-economic cooperation between the two sister cities by facilitating tourism, trade, investment and cultural exchanges.

The direct flight will also provide the most convenient connectively to passengers in Atlanta, the state of Georgia and the surrounding states, he added.

Mayor of Addis Ababa, Adanech Abiebie for her part mentioned about the benefits of the direct flight in strengthening the flow of people, business, tourism, technologies, and ideas among other things in addition to its contribution to enhancing the socio cultural relations.

Mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens said the newly launched flight will help the State of Georgia and Atlanta connect with African continent by coming to the capital city of Africa, Addis Ababa.

Chargé d’affaires of the US embassy in Addis Ababa, Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson stated that the newly launched flight is the latest milestone in the long, deep and very important relationships between Ethiopia and the United States of America.

“Our ties are strong, not just because we have diaspora of million people in the US. Our ties are across all sectors. This flight and the relationship between the cities of Addis Ababa and Atlanta will help us develop our relations going forward.”

Noting that there are a lot of positive developments and optimism in Ethiopia, she said American and Ethiopian Businesses are wise to take this opportunity and capitalize on the growing potential.

Atlanta will be Ethiopian Airlines’ 5th passenger destination in the USA following Chicago, Newark, New York and Washington.

The multiple award-winning Airlines announced that in this month it will also launch additional flights to Copenhagen and Abidjan.

Ethiopian is adding new destinations around the world and is currently flying to 145 domestic and international destinations on 5 continents.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency