The Annual Conference of Ambassadors, Consuls General, and Directors General, opened this week in Addis Ababa, underlining the successes of foreign policy in the just-ended 2007 fiscal year, which had allowed Ethiopia to gain regional, continental and international status of growing importance.
While the conference noted the diplomatic primacy acquired through the practical application of carefully calibrated foreign policy and strategies, it also defined the challenges that still remained in the creation of significant external opportunities for Ethiopia’s national development vision, and of becoming a carbon-neutral middle-income manufacturing-hub by 2025.
In this context, the conference held detailed discussions on the economic development of the country and of the region as well as on issues of peace and stability affecting Ethiopia and its neighbors. It took note of the performance report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and evaluated the performance of Ethiopian Embassies and Consulate Offices overseas.
Foreign Minister Dr Tedros Adhanom, opening the conference at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa on Tuesday (August 11) presented an executive summary of the report of the activities of the Ministry during the current Ethiopian year, 2007, which ends on September 11. The report covered a series of remarkable gains ranging from the areas of peace and security to trade and investment. Detailing progress, Dr Tedros noted that strategic partnerships with immediate neighbors, IGAD regional and Nile Basin states, African countries and the outside world had yielded fruitful results creating significant opportunities for Ethiopia’s economic growth and democratization process.
Dr Tedros, who emphasized that the cooperative partnership between Ethiopia and Djibouti is on the rise reaching a new height, expressed his hope that this positive momentum would further augment the two countries’ efforts to work in tandem for the realization of fully-fledged economic integration. He said both countries had entered a new era of an action-oriented economic partnership that would provide a breakthrough in the IGAD region.
Dr. Tedros also underlined that the important progress being made in both countries would help IGAD capitalize on economic partnership as a core function in addition to the facilitation of peaceful resolution of conflict.
In relation to Somalia, the Foreign Minister noted that the implementation of the Addis Ababa Agreement signed between the Jubaland administration and the Federal Government of Somalia two years ago, had brought peace and reconciliation to Jubaland.
The Agreement, facilitated by Ethiopia, was a noteworthy achievement, he said, which was progressing on the right track and also paving the way for the creation of regional state formation in Somalia. The Foreign Minister said the holding of the 53rd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of IGAD in Mogadishu this year was indicative of the positive changes in the political and security situation in Somalia. He added that the IGAD Ministerial meeting could be regarded as a very real achievement in as much as it testified to the fact that Somalia was open for business to the world.
Dr Tedros said that nothing typified the strategic partnership of Ethiopia and Sudan better than the continued growth of investment and trade between the two countries’ ties. He pointed out that Sudan was one of the largest investors in Ethiopia. He noted the recent Public Diplomacy Delegation’s visit to Khartoum specifically underlined Ethiopia’s commitment for the acceleration of a people-driven economic and political integration within the framework of IGAD and the African Union.
The all-round links between the two countries and the bold moves taken by their respective leaderships are now set to give way to regional integration, producing a model for IGAD and the African Union to follow.
Referring to the Nile, Dr Tedros said the signing of the Declaration of Principles between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt was another important achievement heralding a new era of cooperation over the use of the waters of the Nile. It was a testimony to the way Ethiopia’s win-win approach and its commitment to the principles of mutual benefit were being subscribed to by the Eastern Nile Basin countries in the management of the waters of the Nile.
Dr Tedros also mentioned that the Public Diplomacy Delegation visit to Egypt, as it had in the Sudan, had conveyed the objective of building trust and fraternal ties as well as Ethiopia’s desire for mutual growth and strong bonds. This people-to-people dimension has, he said, made fresh and important contribution to the signing of the Declaration of Principles by Eastern Nile Basin countries.
As a result of these demonstrations of its value, the Public Diplomacy team would now be set up on an institutional footing with full autonomy to complement Ethiopia’s foreign relations with the outside world.
Another important feature of Ethiopia’s success story in the diplomatic field, the Minister stressed, was the historic visit of President Barack Obama to Ethiopia. He said that President Obama’s Ethiopia visit was a reflection of the consistent and principled engagement of the leadership of the two countries, and he underlined that it would open a new dawn for more progress in areas of common interest.
The Foreign Minister also highlighted the fact that Ethiopia’s relations with a significant number of countries including Italy, France, United Kingdom, China, Germany, Japan, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Russia, Canada, and Kuwait, among others, all pointed to the fact that the creation of stronger, all-rounded and continued bilateral partnership for more progress was in process.
Dr. Tedros said that Ethiopia’s success in hosting of the Third Conference on Financing for Development had brought it into the limelight of international diplomacy. The Conference, which had provided an important platform to display to the world the changes taking place in Ethiopia and demonstrate its future political and economic trajectory, had also produced an outcome document, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which put Addis Ababa firmly in place as a capital of future development cooperation.
The Minister said that successes in re-branding Ethiopia’s image through the use of public diplomacy tools had produced significant benefits for the economic and social development of Ethiopia. These included the creation of the Public Diplomacy Delegation, co-operation with think tanks, media institutions and advocacy groups, the weekly newsletter A Week in the Horn, and the production of Our Diplomacy broadcast by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation. This new type of diplomacy, buttressed by the country’s remarkable economic growth, peace and stability, had resulted in the emergence of a new face for Ethiopia, slowly but surely replacing the past image of famine and disaster.
Ethiopia’s public diplomacy practices now signified the country’s shared commitment to the creation of a community of a shared African destiny in the region and the continent. People-to-people ties within this framework enabled Africans to work in concert for the enrichment of the “Renaissance Capital of Africa”, to outpace the challenges facing development, cooperation and stability.
Looking to economic diplomacy, Dr. Tedros said that the Ministry had planed to bring some 1227 companies for pre-investment visits to Ethiopia during the past year. It had actually managed to exceed the target with a total of 1349 firms visiting the country. Of these, 50 are international brand names. Dr. Tedros said leaders and high-level government officials who visited Ethiopia during the year had brought more than 485 business delegations with them. Business forums, held jointly with countries like Canada, USA, Turkey, South Africa, Finland, France, Norway, and Egypt, had paved the way for 535 companies to see the business opportunities available in Ethiopia and of these 535 companies, 26 had shown specific interest to bring their enterprises and invest in Ethiopia.
Dr. Tedros expressed his appreciation of the way the country’s diplomats were so quickly catching up with new era diplomacy tools and using digital diplomacy. He urged all diplomats and missions abroad to adopt digital diplomacy to engage with the public in their areas and communicate Ethiopia’s vision to the outside world.
The Annual Conference of Ambassadors, Consuls General, and Directors General will also deliberate on ways to elevate the country’s trade, investment, tourism, and finance for development to new levels in conjunction with other ministries and the private sector. In addition, Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Ali Youssouf will give a presentation on thematic issues including Peace and Security in the Horn of Africa and Regional Integration Using the Strategic Partnership between Ethiopia and Djibouti as a Model.
The presentation will be followed by discussions. Another presentation for the Ambassadors will cover the Ministry’s part in the 5 year Growth and Transformation Plan 2 and its own plans. This will be followed by discussion and endorsement of the Ministry’s own result-oriented plan for the new Ethiopian year (2008). Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will also provide guidelines and directives to the heads of Ethiopian missions for further action during the coming year.