ADDIS ABABA – The process of revising the over one and half decades foreign policy is almost finished and the policy will soon made public, Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
The Ministry’s spokesperson Nebiat Getachew recently told EPA the revised foreign policy is being prepared taking into account the current international and regional political situations.
“For instance, the previous foreign policy had shortcomings related to Ethio- Eritrea relations and South Sudan. With regard to Eritrea, the two countries have restored their diplomatic ties ending the enmity that lasted for two decades. Plus, South Sudan had not become independent state when the policy was formed.”
As to him, the revised foreign policy gives special attention to the efforts of economic integration with neighboring countries and people to people ties across the Horn of Africa and beyond.
The coming policy will put top the activities to safeguard the fundamental human rights of fellow citizens residing abroad ,he said adding in this end, embassies and consulate offices have been striving to work on citizen centered diplomacy with special emphasis since last year.
The spokesperson noted that initial studies have been conducted for preparing this foreign policy document apart from taking into consideration the local tangible situations, overall tendency and geopolitics of the world.
Preparation of foreign policy amendment is being undertaken with the assumption of all these. The Ministry’s senior officials, researchers and university intellectuals have been taking part in revising the foreign policy. The draft revised foreign policy will soon be tabled for the discussion with stakeholders at all levels for further enrichment of the document, said Nebiat.
Policy review is commonly undertaken in seven years interval in many countries. Though the acting foreign policy of Ethiopia has lasted for 17 years, the newly designed policy is believed to serve for the coming seven years. Of course, this is not compulsory if any binding issue is happened; it is possible to amend the policy at any time, said the spokesperson.
The Ethiopian Herald, July 2/2019
BY BACHA ZEWEDE
