Ethiopia best place to renew partnership of Africa, Europe : MSC meeting chairman

Addis Ababa, April 15, 2016 (FBC) – Addis Ababa is the best place to start the renewed special partnerships between Germany and Africa in particular and Europe and Africa in general, Munich Security Conference (MSC) Core Group Meeting Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger said.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, the chairman said “Ethiopia is for us a great starting place to share our experience with Africa.”

Ischinger said “I am really delighted that we were given red carpet treatment to come here for the meeting by the government of Ethiopia and we found ourselves well received with great hospitality”.

As Ethiopia is the seat of the African Union, it has a special responsibility and can play a special role in security issues in the region and at global level, he added.

According to the chairman, Ethiopia is the largest regional player in peace and security and it is obvious that the country is one of the major peacekeeping mission contributors in the world.

Cooperation between Germany and African countries goes back of course to many decades. “We have had development cooperation with a very large of African countries, including deploying German soldiers to African countries”, he further stated.

Europe and Africa are now discovering that they need to work much closer than the past, according to the chairman.

He stressed that it is time for renewed special focus on Africa since the continent is undergoing enormous transformation.

The two continents need to work together on issues such as fighting terrorism, handling refugees and migration, preventing and managing conflict, he pointed out.

Africa Peace and Security Program (APSP) Director Michelle Ndiaye Ntab said on her part regional integration and cooperation of African countries would pave a way for solving the socio-economic and political problems of the continent alongside international partnership on security.

The future of Africa will be bright with empowering its vibrant and young human resource which is necessary to attain the sustainable development goals, according to the director.