EU Wants to Engage in Rebuilding Ethiopia as Strategic Partner: EU Ethiopia Delegation Head

The European Union is committed to continuing its support to the people of Ethiopia and wants to engage in the rebuilding efforts of the country as a strategic partner, the European Union to Ethiopia Delegation Head said.

It is to be recalled that the European Union (EU) signed yesterday a total of 38 million Euros agreement to support conflict-affected health and education sectors in Ethiopia.

European Union to Ethiopia Delegation Head Ambassador Roland Kobia told ENA that the EU has been supporting the people of Ethiopia even during the conflict and in difficult times.

According to him, EU has been supporting Ethiopians affected by drought, particularly in the Somali region, and is also supporting the health and education sectors.

Moreover, the Union has not imposed sanction on Ethiopia as many people perceive, Ambassador  Kobia  stated.

“The EU has never imposed any sanctions on Ethiopia. Many people think that we have done that, but it is not true. We have not imposed any sanctions.”

The head further pointed out that the EU has also kept very preferable trade regime for Ethiopia similar to the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

“The EU has also kept the very preferable trade regime in favor of Ethiopia, which is called ‘everything, but arms.’ It is a little bit like AGOA, but for the Europeans we have never suspended that. So, we have done our best to continue supporting Ethiopia and mainly the Ethiopian population throughout this war.”

Ambassador  Kobia also said that the EU “will be involved as a very longstanding partner and in a very strong spirit of partnership with Ethiopia. We should not forget that the EU and Ethiopia have a strategic partnership. So if we are strategic partners, we need to talk to each other and make joint assessment and joint decisions.”

EU has very long tradition in peace process, he noted, stating that “we have done our peace process ourselves in Europe some decades ago going out of war.” So EU and European people understand what war is because they have gone through

 

Source: Ethiopia News Agency