BY HAFTU GEBREZGABIHER
Recently, Ethiopia has inaugurated its own Embassy building and facility in Ankara, Turkey and New Delhi, India. Though the Embassies have been operating for so long, they were largely performing their diplomatic activities being in a house rent.
The Ethiopian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey one of the most strategic foreign missions for Ethiopia in terms of boosting bilateral and global cooperation has been inaugurated its own building facility last week in the presence of the Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Demeke Mekonnen, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Dina Mufti and several high ranking diplomatic and government officials from both Turkey and Ethiopia.
Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen said during the inaugural event that the new embassy will draw the people of the two states together and enhance bilateral relations while promoting cultures.
“Ethiopia and Turkey enjoy a friendship and all rounded cooperation. Over the years, the two governments have extended numerous high-level visits that produced very important outcomes that helped expedite the development of joint cooperation on both sides,”
The Deputy PM further added that Ethiopia is ready to deepen and strengthen it’s cooperation with Turkey. The Ethiopian foreign minister also invited Turkish companies to invest in his country.
Mevlut Çavuşoğlu, the Turkish FM on his part stated that Turkey looked back on the two nations’ strategic partnership, noting that Turkey opened its first embassy in sub-Saharan Africa in 1926 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
“However, their diplomatic ties date even further back,” he said, explaining the ties between the two countries date back to 1896, making it 125 years since the launch of diplomatic relations.
Following his attendance on the inaugural ceremony, the Turkish FM said in his official twitter account “in 125th year of our relations, inaugurated new Embassy building of Ethiopia with my brother Demeke Mekkonen.
“We are 2nd largest investor in Ethiopia. Our trade volume target is $1 billion. Willing to hold 3 Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit this year.”
The Turkish publication, Daily Sabah (DS) also stated that over the years the landlocked country in the Horn of Africa has become a primary destination for Turkish investors on the continent.
According to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, Turkey is the second-biggest investor in Ethiopia, with an investment capital of $2.5 billion (TL 17.43 billion). The person-to-person interaction and changing perceptions have boosted Ethiopian-Turkish ties and led Turkish companies to employ 30,000 Ethiopians thanks to the multifaceted relations nurtured between the two countries.
Çavuşoğlu, on another note, commended Ethiopia’s fight against terrorism, noting that Turkey “supports the anti-terror of Ethiopia, Somalia and other African countries very strongly” as a country that has years of experience battling the issue.
Çavuşoğlu also underlined the deep partnership Ankara has with African countries and stated that depending on the corona virus pandemic conditions the 3rd Turkey-African Union partnership summit would be carried out in Turkey this year.
The Turkish foreign minister noted Turkey’s 42 embassies in Africa and shared that the number will reach 44 with the opening of embassies in Togo and Guinea-Bissau. Çavuşoğlu also stated that at one point there were only 10 embassies belonging to African countries in the capital Ankara, the number today stands at 36.
“These figures show how strong the ties between Turkey and African countries are,” he said.
Turkey’s bilateral relations with the continent have gained momentum in the last decade and are at a more sustainable place now thanks to Ankara having established high-level contacts. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has voiced on many occasions that Turkey wants to deepen its ties with African nations.
Turkey’s engagement with Africa dates back to the adoption of an action plan in 1998, but relations really took shape in 2005 when Ankara declared the “Year of Africa.” Turkey was accorded observer status by the African Union (AU) the same year.
In a reciprocal move, the AU declared Turkey its strategic partner in 2008, with relations between the continent and Turkey gaining momentum when the first Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit was held in the commercial capital Istanbul with the participation of representatives from 50 African countries that year, according to DS.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia has also sees to deepen its partnership with India. To this end, on February 18/202, Ethiopia has inaugurated its own embassy building in the capital New Delhi. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar inaugurated the newly constructed Ethiopian embassy and chancery building.
Addressing the event, Demeke sorted out the long-standing people-to-people, trade, and investment relationship between the two countries that was further entrenched with the formal diplomatic relations since 1948.
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar appreciated the ever-growing multifaceted relations between the countries, citing investment and education in particular.
He stated that over 600 Indian companies have invested about five billion US dollars capital and created employment for more than 75,000 Ethiopians.
Regarding relations in the educational sector, the Minister said there are currently 2,000 Indian teachers in Ethiopia while the number of Ethiopian students in India is one of the largest among African students in the country.
Jaishankar expressed his hope that the strong bilateral relationship would be reflected in multilateral levels too, according to the report filed by (ENA).
The Ethiopian Herald February 23/2021
