ADDIS ABABA — Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed that Ethiopia will actively participate in 74th UN General Assembly of high level segments and all level committees. Ministry said that Ethiopia has participated in the previous meeting to decide and accept resolution and decision passed by the member states.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Nebiat Getachew, briefed journalists yesterday that the Ethiopian delegation will take active part in meetings of the six main committees of the General Assembly.
A high-level Ethiopian delegation will participate at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which was opened on September 17-30, 2019 in New York.
As per the decisions and resolutions of the 73rd UN General Assembly, Secretary General of the UN prepares outline based on the 172 agenda on June 30, 2019 concerning the 74th UN general assembly and the general assembly will focus on peace and security, economy, social affairs, international law and also the budget of the union and administration.
In line with the ongoing reform Ethiopia will give priority in political, social and economic affairs while regional, continental and international affairs would be taken into consideration. Among the stated and new agenda Ethiopia finalized preparation and ready to participate in the selected 152 agenda of the 74th UN general assembly.
Nebiat said that among the area which Ethiopia will participate is high level climate action summit, second high level political forum on sustainable development, the third finance for development forum at high level segments, fourth universal health coverage and sekota declaration.
Bilateral discussion by the side of Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be held concerning the current situation of neighboring states and other related issues will be conducted by the side of the assembly.
Ethiopia elected as deputy President of the member state and United Nation Action on High Level summit will be headed by Ethiopia in collaboration with Denmark.
Regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), he said, Ethiopia will continue to use the Abay River for development in line with the principle of fair and reasonable utilization of the waters of the river. Ethiopia recently rejected unilateral proposal tabled by Egypt regarding the filling process of reservoir of the dam.The negotiations have not been convened after the meeting of the tripartite ministerial meeting a yearago. The disagreement will not bring any side effect to the construction of the dam.
The GERD is a sovereign matter that requires no country’s approval except Ethiopia. The proposal from Egypt was unilaterally decided and did not consider the previous tripartite agreements, he said.
Ethiopia rejected the proposal because it breached the agreement signed between the three countries on fair and reasonable utilization of the waters of the Nile River.
Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed said finalizing the dam is a key priority according to the timeline established and construction of the dam will be completed as scheduled and the dam will start power production by the end of 2020 and be fully operational by 2022.
Ethiopia rejected the idea explaining that Egypt alone cannot bring a new proposal different from the previous one, he noted. According to him, only Water Ministers of the three countries and the technical committee held discussion since the proposal of Egypt to hold a meeting of the tripartite foreign and Water Ministers was not accepted.
However, some held the idea that the new proposal of Egypt be included in the agenda, the minister said, adding that “Ethiopia rejected the idea on the ground that Egypt’s proposal is not in alignment with the meeting underway and intent on passing decision on a dam of sovereign country.”
Nebiyat pointed out that Ethiopia will resume discussion which will held from September 30 to October 3 between National Independent Scientific Research Group (NISRG)in Khartoum and the tripartite meeting of the three Ministers of Water and Irrigation which will be held on October.
The Ethiopian Herald September 21/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
