Addis Ababa, February 18, 2023 (FBC) – Addressing the 36th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of Government and State, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that Ethiopia continues to believe in the principle of “African Solution to African Problems”.
“One of the earliest and most powerful expressions of this principle comes from the opening statement delivered by His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie in his address to the first Summit of the OAU in May 1963. His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie acknowledged that future disputes among African countries were only natural. But, he also advised that, when disputes arise, the effort to resolve them “must be confined to this continent and quarantined from the contamination of non-African interference.”
Today, each time we assert and reassert the principle of African Solutions to African Problems, we are only applying the timeless wisdom of our forefathers for the resolution of contemporary challenges.
“At the heart of the principle of African Solutions to African Problems lies a belief in African solidarity, African agency and the equal dignity of all human beings. Here in Ethiopia, we do not just insist on the principle of African solutions for the resolution of our problems; we also present ourselves at the forefront in helping ourselves and our fellow African countries to resolve challenges.”
“Our leading role in peacekeeping missions, our peacemaking efforts in Sudan, Somalia, and South Sudan, and our recent successes in resolving our own long-standing no-war no-peace relationship with Eritrea are prominent examples in this respect.”
In Ethiopia, we have been working diligently to enhance agricultural productivity in the past four years. We have commenced an initiative that encourages small-holder farmers to farm in clusters that enable them to benefit from irrigation and mechanization, he indicated.
“Our laser focus on wheat productivity is bearing fruit. And our ambition to begin exporting wheat this year has already materialized. This is a great achievement for Ethiopia. It is even a greater achievement for our continent,” Abiy underlined.
Ethiopia is also undertaking a massive campaign to encourage both large- and small-scale poultry, dairy, livestock farming, as well as urban agriculture, through a national initiative we call “Yelemat Tirufat” – loosely translated as ‘bounty of the basket’, according to the Prime Minister.
These efforts are showing promising results. Not only will Ethiopia feed itself; we are confident that we can strongly contribute to global food supplies through exports and otherwise, he said.
The 2023 Dakar Declaration on Food Sovereignty and Resilience rightly acknowledged the continental awakening that ‘it is time for Africa to feed itself and fully unlock its agriculture potential to feed the world.’ I call upon our African Union and development partners to support in unleashing this potential.
“Sadly, the principle of African Solutions to African Problems is not a silver bullet to address all our challenges, because not all our problems are the products of our own making. The challenge of climate change is a case in point.
“We all know that Africa’s contribution to global warming is insignificant. Yet climate change is already affecting Africa more severely than any other part of the world. To this extent, climate change is an African problem, but its roots lie elsewhere,” the PM noted.
Global meetings on climate change are rich with the rhetoric of climate justice, the just transition, common but differentiated responsibilities of parties. These talks, however, are hardly ever backed up with action. And Africa cannot wait. Ethiopia is definitely not waiting for solutions to come from outside. Instead, we are doing all we can to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
“Over the past four years, Ethiopia’s contribution through our national Green Legacy initiative has mobilized 25 million Ethiopians across the nation. Collectively, we have now planted well over 25 billion trees across the country. The impact could be equated to removing 64 million gasoline-powered cars from the roads for a whole year,” he elaborated.
For my country, investment in environmental protection is not a charity; it is driven by enlightened self-interest. For us in Ethiopia, environmental protection is about everything we are as a society. It is about our ability to feed ourselves. It is about our ability to conserve water and other precious resources. It is about our ability to preserve peace between adjoining communities. It is about our survival as a nation.
While Ethiopia’s economy has been challenged by the COVID19 pandemic, a drought, an internal conflict and the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, we have nevertheless remained resilient as a nation.
Our home-grown economic reform program has also helped us persevere. Through this reform program that has enabled the opening up of the economy to competition, some of the major service sectors that have been closed to foreign investment for several decades, such as telecoms and finance, are being progressively opened.
“We know the COVID19 pandemic and the current global commodity shortages hurt public finances everywhere. Forced to spend on tackling the pandemic while tax revenues collapsed, most of our countries piled up unsustainable debts. Now that the pandemic is over, nearly all of us want to put our economies back on a growth trajectory. But this will not happen without sufficient restructuring to make our external debt sustainable,” he stated.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed Africa’s collective call for a fast and predictable global framework of debt restructuring that is conducive to accelerating sustainable, inclusive green growth in the continent.
African countries are engaged in environmental conservation, reforestation and massive investment in the generation of clean energy from hydro sources. In short, Africa is leading the world in areas that matter for all humanity and it is time for Africa’s leadership role to be recognized and institutionalized.
“I would like to use this opportunity to lend my voice yet again for Africa to be represented on the UN Security Council with at least one permanent seat and double non-permanent seats. Moreover, Africa also needs to have proportionate representation at the G7, the G20 and similar global forums,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed underscored.