U.S. lauds Ethiopia’s commitment to ensure dev’t, regional peace

Addis Ababa, May 31, 2016 (FBC) – The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Patricia M. Haslach has lauded Ethiopian government’s commitment to alleviate poverty, empower women and ensure to regional peace and stability.

In an exclusive interview with the Ethiopian Press Agency, she said that her government is interested to work with Ethiopia in the area of manufacturing and other economic sectors. “Under our future initiative Ethiopia is one of our partners,” she said.

The Ambassador said that her government is interested in getting American companies to invest in Ethiopia in textile, pharmaceutical, agro-processing and health sectors, among others.

The Ambassador said that Ethiopia could benefit from the fertile economic opportunities in America using the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). “The direct flight to New York as of the coming July 3rd by the Ethiopian Airline is another advantage for the two countries’ economic cooperation.”

Concerning to the democratization process, like many countries Ethiopia has its own challenges, she said, and noted that as long as Ethiopia stays at the path towards democracy and growth, it will continue to prosper and grow.

According to her, the U.S. government will work closely with the Ethiopian government to improve democracy, human right and good governance situations.

As to the opposition parties she said “We encourage the government to engage in productive dialogue with the opposition hoping to see more space in the political sphere.”

Noting Ethiopia’s active role in climate change issues, the Ambassador said that Ethiopia is a country that really understood the impact of climate change. In this regard, the US government is supporting Ethiopia in various forms. For instance, the US government has provided about 147 million US dollars directly to Ethiopia in the past five years. In addition, the US government has pledged three billion US dollars to the Green Climate Fund.

Ambassador Haslash said that her government is actively engaged to support the capacity of health and education services in line with the Ethiopia’s second Growth and Transformation Plan.

According to the Ambassador, considerable amount of fund has been provided to build pharmaceuticals facilities, clinics, maternal and child health centre. The construction of National Blood Centre has already started in Addis Ababa, she said.

The Ambassador said that the role of Ethiopian women in social, economic and political arenas has been improved. “Ethiopia has done a pretty good job in the area of women empowerment. Women have the right to go to university, they are encouraged to run for political office.” Her government is also engaging in areas that empower women, she said.

With a long history of peace keeping mission, Ethiopia has a good experience of fighting terrorism and peace keeping activities, the Ambassador noted. Currently, Ethiopian peace keepers are deployed in Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia which contributes a great share of peace keeping forces in the continent.

The ambassador has also appreciated Ethiopia’s willingness to provide sanctuary for 730,000 refugees. “Though it is difficult, Ethiopia is always happy to open its doors for neighbours in times of need.”