Addis Ababa, March 7, 2022 (Walta) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Demeke Mekonnen urged the newly appointed ambassadors to work hard and change the wrong narrative about Ethiopia on the global stage.
An intensive capacity-building training that has been given to newly appointed ambassadors for the last 15 days was concluded on Sunday in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the training today Demeke urged the ambassadors to fulfill their national responsibilities in safeguarding Ethiopia’s national interest.
In particular, he indicated that Ethiopia has witnessed a lot of disinformation campaigns and unreasonable diplomatic pressure over a year.
However, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has embarked now on a diplomatic paradigm shift, the newly appointed ambassadors are highly anticipated to change the wrong narrative against Ethiopia and promote its true image, Demeke indicated.
“There are challenges that we have not completely overcome. Particularly, we need to change the ill-intended narrative and the disinformation campaign by pursuing moderate diplomatic approach,” he noted.
In this regard Ethiopian ambassadors have a lion’s share to make the international community properly understand Ethiopia by promoting the real image of the country, Demeke underlined.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister stressed the need to be disciplined and be able to quickly understand the unpredictable and constantly changing socio-economic realities to protect the interest of the country.
He said Ethiopia also expects the ambassadors to scale up a fraternal relationship with Africa and its people for accelerated economic engagement and beneficial effects in the political sphere.
He further pointed out that diplomats have to be proactive and they need to undertake rearrangement to change the negative discourse right now.
Noting that Ethiopia still has diplomatic influence due to its historical role and geopolitical importance, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister urged the diplomats to discharge their responsibility with the utmost efforts.
Demeke underlined the need to conduct such awareness-raising and capacity-building training sessions, both at the Headquarter and the missions boosting women participation and covering topics deemed to advance Ethiopia’s interests.
State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Burtukan Ayano, on her part, said the training covered about 20 topics, including, inter alia, tourism and image building, business and economy, citizen-centered and Diaspora engagements, consular services, and communication and digital diplomacy.
She expressed her hope that the ambassadors are equipped with the necessary knowledge that would help them shoulder huge responsibilities and make knowledge-based decisions.
According to ENA, the ambassadors expressed appreciation to the Ministry for the training session that helped them deliberate issues that would have importance on carrying out their responsibilities.