PM Abiy’s recent official trips bring Ethiopia’s diplomatic capacity to new heights

Addis Ababa, November 29, 2023 (FBC) – State Minister for the Government Communication Service, Selamawit Kassa, stated that the official trips made by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) to the European countries have brought Ethiopia’s diplomatic capacity to new heights.

In her media briefing regarding Premier’s recent visit to Prague, Selamawit pointed out that the trip takes the flourishing diplomatic ties between Ethiopia and Czech Republic to the next level.

It is to be recalled that the Prime Minister of Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, paid an official visit to Ethiopia a few weeks ago.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated that Ethiopia is one of the six key development partners of the Czech Republic.

Tourism and heritage conservation research are mentioned among the areas in which the two countries are working in partnership. With regard to this, Prime Minister Abiy visited the National Museum in Czech Republic’s capital, Prague, the State Minister said.

Selamawit also stated that the trip brought an opportunity to learn that Czech Republic a paramount experience in preserving its history and passing it on to future generations.

Ethiopia has a lot to learn from Czech Republic in this regard to strengthen unity and maintain national narrative that would help the generation to know about the nation, she said, adding that this prompted the need to invite Czech Republic to build national museum in Ethiopia.

In addition, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) discussed with the Czech Prime Minister on ways of strengthening bilateral ties between Ethiopia and Czech Republic.

During their discussion, the two leaders underlined the long and historical relationship between Ethiopia and the Czech Republic, and stressed the need to replicate this to other areas of cooperation, the State Minister indicated.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed mentioned the contribution of engineer Adolf Parlesák, the author of the book written in Czech language and later translated into Amharic as “Yehabesha Jebdu”, as a historic testimony for the longstanding ties between the two countries.

Brno, the hometown of Adolf Parlesák, was among the places visited by the Prime Minister, she said.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his delegation also visited the agricultural machineries in Brno, and it was raised that mechanized agriculture is needed to ensure food self-sufficiency in Ethiopia. The company that was visited by the delegation has been invited to invest in Ethiopia, she said.

It was raised that the booming relationship between the Ethiopian and Czech governments should be transformed to people-to-people ties, according to the State Minister.

Ethiopia will participate in the exhibition to be organized by the Prague Museum, and it will be a great opportunity to promote the history of Ethiopia among the Czech community.

There is also a prospect that Ethiopian Airlines will be able to directly fly to Prague and this will help enhance trade ties between the two countries particularly in export of coffee and other agricultural products.

The State Minister pointed out that the two countries have strong military capacity building cooperation particularly in Air Force capacity building training.

The two countries also reached an agreement to establish a joint economic cooperation commission in order to implement the issues agreed at leaders’ level.

During his official trips, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was able to promote Ethiopia’s national interests, the State Minister pointed out, adding that this also helped to discover new market destinations and bolster Ethiopia’s diplomatic capacity.