State Minister for MFA Birtukan Ayano confers with WFP Vice President

Addis Ababa, July 22, 2023 (FBC) – State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia H.E. Ambassador Birtukan Ayano conferred with the Vice President of the World Food Program (WFP), Carl Skau, at his office, WFP Headquarters in Italy, Rome on July 21, 2023.

During the occasion the state minister commended the WFP’s contributions to Ethiopia since its founding and stressed the longstanding positive ties between the two sides.

Ambassador Birtukan also emphasized that Ethiopia is committed to further strengthening the existing ties between the two sides and urged the WFP to expedite its support to people affected by conflict and drought in the country.

Regarding the recent diversion of food aid, the state minister stressed the significance of continuing the ongoing investigation into the issue while resuming the relief supply for the benefit of the people who still require food aid.

The Vice President of WFP expressed appreciation for the State Minister’s intervention and promised to do everything in his power to continue food distribution while continuing to work on the ongoing investigation and improving working modalities to make the food distribution more transparent and reduce instances of it being misused.

The two sides deliberated on further deepening the ties.