In Today’s the diplomat column, The Ethiopian Herald has come up with a vibrant young Ethiopian diplomat Meles Alem Tikea who has been dominating the Kenyan, Seychelles and Ethiopian media since he had been appointed as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to Kenya six months back.
Envoy Meles, who is also, accredited Ambassador to Malawi, Seychelles and Comoros touched lots of things during his exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald held on the premises of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the annual ambassadors and heads of Ethiopian missions meeting last week.
During the last six months, he said; the core of the diplomatic relations with all the East African communities is being done with due emphasis on cultural diplomacy, according to the Ambassador.
Therefore, to this end, the Ethiopian Embassy in Kenya has been conducting citizen-focused diplomatic activities, adding he stated that top on the agenda are found values, people, cultures and virtues that Ethiopia shared with Kenya and other East African countries. Hence, for the relationship between Ethiopia and Kenya to be sustainable, priority must be placed on further forging the people-to-people ties.
Meles underlined that the Ethiopia-Kenya
Cross-border relations are the most peaceful in Africa. To promote these cultural ties, recently, the Turkana community of Kenya, Nyangatom and Dassanach of Ethiopian Leaders had met in the sidelines of Turkana County Cultural Festival (Tobongu Lore 5th Edition) to take stock of milestones, emerging issues, challenges and draw a way forward to maintain their peaceful coexistence.
Meles underlined that the good relations between Ethiopia and Kenya has brought the administrators and representatives of the sub-national governments from the two sides. This is a change from the previous when there was a limited contact between administrations.
He noted that the fruits of such engagements are visible due to the reduction in cases of community conflicts.As a precursor for national government involvement to provide support for sustainable peace and development, cross-border engagement is very much helpful, Meles capitalized.
The Tobong’u Lore as a cross-border cultural festival supported continuous engagements between communities. He underlined the importance of investment in joint infrastructure to benefit communities across the border.
“So, cognizant of the political diplomacy, we have focused on cultural exchanges, which, among others, include hosting cultural and tourism festivals. Regarding what we did in the past six months, we organized the Borena Cultural Festival which brought together close to 5000 participants.”
These activities are showcases to the high level of commitment both countries attach to their engagements.
The Ethiopian diplomat also said the current situation in Ethiopia is being facilitated so that Ethiopians living in Kenya can see the embassy like their home. The engagements of the Ethiopian community are now enhanced. The embassy is always open for Ethiopians. “They should feel that the embassy is their own home be it when they are happy or otherwise,” said Meles adding that the embassy would make every effort to convince citizens that the government is close by at any time.
The embassy will work in various capacities to discharge its responsibility of protecting the rights and dignity of Ethiopians in Kenya and the countries that it is accredited to. It is closely working with Kenya’s immigration and security structures to protect Ethiopians, he said.
The ambassador also stressed the importance of the media in scaling up the current level of cooperation and diplomatic relationships between the countries in the global arena. Thus, to this end, Meles said that he himself is being actively working with the Kenya media. The embassy is open for the Kenyan media. The ambassador is writing for almost all influential newspaper in the country about the development-related matters of both countries.
Media diplomacy has become one of his priorities during his tenure. On various occasions the Ambassador has been giving statements on several occasions to the Ethiopian and Kenyan media personnel .
Pertaining to Seychelles, Meles noted his mission learnt that the government of Seychelles is committed to further cementing the good friendship with Ethiopia.
After his discussions with the Seychelles President, Meles posted on his account that the President has expressed his high regard for the strong connectivity Ethiopian Airlines is providing by linking Seychelles with the mainland Africa and beyond.
The President also indicated that such connectivity can be expanded to include the Shipping Lines. Recalling that the Ethiopian Shipping Lines is one of the strongest service providers in East Africa with demonstrated leadership as well as consistency in service quality, President Faure invited the Ethiopian Shipping Lines to diversify its activities on the Indian Ocean making Seychelles its hub.
In addition to Ethiopian Airlines, the Ambassador is dedicated to bring the excellence of Seychelles in the areas of tourism and service sector to Ethiopia, a country which has vast tourism potentials, the Ambassador told The Ethiopian Herald.
Ambassador Meles pledged the government of Ethiopia will display commitment to further enhance the relations between Ethiopia and Seychelles and said that he is looking forward to engaging in further strengthening ties in the areas of tourism, trade and security. He also stressed the fact that the strong bilateral ties at the highest levels should be cascaded to the grassroots level to anchor the relations.
Similarly, Meles stressed the need to work at the same pace with Malawi and Comoros to which he is accredited for. The diplomat has expressed his maximum willingness to further enhance the diplomatic activities of Ethiopia among the countries of the Eastern African region which has shared values, challenges, and future destinies. He also expressed zeal towards ensuring economic advancement and common interests.
Meles is alumni of the University of Jommo Kenyatta.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 15 September 2019
BY HAFTU GEBREZGABIHER
