Closing speech by the Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Attaf, in Addis Ababa

Closing remarks

Excellency Mr. Gedion Timothewos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia;

Excellencies distinguished members of our two delegations;

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen;

As we conclude this fifth session of the joint Ministerial Committee between our two countries, allow me to express my full satisfaction with the concrete and encouraging results achieved today. I sincerely thank our distinguished officials, from both delegations, for their hard work, genuine dedication and strong commitment to ensure the success of this session.

Hand in hand, I believe that we have successfully played our part today, and that we have made a significant contribution towards providing our bilateral relations with more substance, particularly in the economic and technical areas of common interest.    

As I see it, the success of this fifth session of our Joint Ministerial Committee is mainly and most importantly threefold:

We have succeeded first in terms of consolidating and enriching the legal framework governing the bilateral relations between Algeria and Ethiopia. This legal framework, whose scope did not exceed in the recent past twenty-five (25) agreements in addition to the declaration of strategic partnership, has been strengthened today by the conclusion of thirteen (13) additional legal instruments covering a wide-range of new areas of cooperation.  

We have succeeded secondly in terms of identifying and fixing clear, concrete and action-oriented priorities for the Algerian-Ethiopian bilateral cooperation. Many of these areas have been the focus of the legal instruments concluded today, while others have already been covered by previous agreements or will be undergoing this process in the near future. I am particularly happy to note that these priorities translate perfectly the complementarities between Algerian and Ethiopian economies in sectors such as pharmaceutical industry, food industry, agriculture, energy, mining, air transport, start-ups and higher education. 

We have succeeded thirdly in terms of consolidating the strategic convergences between our two countries over all international, continental and regional issues of common interest and shared concern. I must say that, like all our previous encounters, the thorough consultations I had today with my dear brother Minister Gedion Timothewos, were positive and very productive. They have confirmed our attachment to our genuine and identical identity: that of strong pillars of panafricanism continentally, and that of strong advocates for a rules-based global order internationally.  

Having said all of that, I invite all of us to remain committed to the Algerian-Ethiopian strategic partnership and to remain engaged in the process of preserving and further nurturing the current momentum. I am saying so, because we all need to be mindful of the fact that the real success is the one that will emanate from the implementation of what has been agreed upon today. It is the one that will be translated in concrete actions of cooperation on the ground. It is also the one that will be felt by our populations and that will hopefully bring them together and much closer to each other.  

That’s why, and before bringing my remarks to an end, I would like to insist on three important endeavors, which, in my view, will help us to remain focused on achieving our common goals:

The first among these endeavors is that of ensuring early ratification of the legal instruments concluded today, particularly those entailing such a procedure. The earliest this procedure is accomplished, the earliest we open new avenues for diversifying our bilateral cooperation.

The second among these endeavors is that of ensuring proper and regular follow-up of today’s session. For that to happen, we need to keep our bilateral mechanisms fully functional and fully operational. We also need to encourage more exchanges of visits among Ministers and high-officials in charge of the priority areas we both agreed on today.

The third and last of these endeavors concerns the urgent need to fully embark the business communities from both sides in this promising journey. They really need to be established in their role as full-fledged components of the Algerian-Ethiopian strategic partnership.

This brings me to the end of my remarks. I wish to thank you, once again, my dear brother Minister Gedion Timothewos, for the warm welcome, for the generous hospitality and for the fruitful and memorable session we’ve had today. 

Long live the Algerian-Ethiopian strategic partnership!

Long live the Algerian-Ethiopian fraternity!

Long live Africa!

I thank you all very much for your kind attention.