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Agree to finalize detailed agreements in months
ADDIS ABABA- Aiming at beefing up partnership, Ethiopia and Kenya signed yesterday Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in seven different fields of cooperation.
Accordingly, the two countries’ foreign ministers signed the MoUs for cooperation in tourism, culture, wildlife protection, capacity building, education capacity building, prison services, fish farming, and petroleum sectors.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Ambassador Taye Atskeselassie expressed the need for cooperation to address and deal with human trafficking, terrorism, climate change and other pressing challenges in the East African region.
Ethiopia will share counter-terrorism information to Kenya and vice versa, and agreement was also reached upon enhancing the two countries’ cooperation in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia-ATMIS, he added.
“Since Ethiopia and Kenya are intertwined by geography, culture, and history, cooperation is predictable. The Joint Ministerial Commission, which is in charge of drafting and discussing bilateral agreements, is expected to complete further detailed agreements in upcoming meetings.”
FM Taye also affirmed Ethiopia’s determination to develop together with neighboring countries, including Kenya.
Approached by journalists at the event, Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Bacha Debele stated that the two sides are in good faith to make more bilateral engagements. “Several detailed agreements will be signed in the upcoming months.”
Kenyan Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi (PhD) said for his part that the MoUs signed on all seven issues will help to advance the two countries’ multifaceted cooperation. Regular engagements that help to evaluate and sustain the implementation of agreements will be put in place per the direction of the MoUs.
“The two countries are under the threat of terrorism and extremism, climate change, political instability, and regional unrest so further detailed agreements will be made in the next months.”
The MoUs declare detailed agreements shall be signed in months of this year; the time schedule for each agreement has been agreed upon and stated in all MoUs, it was learned.
Highlighting Kenya’s special place for the relationship it has with Ethiopia, the minister affirmed his country’s determination to implement the areas of cooperation that have been agreed upon.
The seven MoUs have been signed following the three- day-long discussion by the three clusters (economic, political, and social) of the 36th Joint Ministerial Commission.
Ethiopia and Kenya reactivated the Joint Ministerial Commission which was established in 1963 last Monday after seven years of interruption.
BY YESUF ENDRIS
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2024
