Ethiopia: The Five-Day Meeting of Ethiopian Senior Diplomats Continues

The five-day meeting of Ethiopian Ambassadors, heads of all Ethiopian missions abroad and Director Generals at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued on Tuesday (April 2nd) with discussions focused on implementation of the Ministry's business and economic diplomacy. State Minister Nega, underlining that business and economic diplomacy was the basis of the country's diplomatic practices, noted the establishment of the Ethiopian Business Consortium Forum to coordinate different Government stakeholders, manage any possible bottlenecks in the country's business and economic diplomacy engagements and ensure the widest possible benefits.

He stressed this should be used more effectively. He also noted the implementation in the Ministry of the Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), a Balanced Score Card (BSC) and other relevant management tools to improve the Ministry's efficiency and effectiveness, ensure speedy service and promotion of the country's business opportunities and define the Ministry's interactions with its missions, government stakeholders and other partners. All this, he said, had enabled a better trend of market intelligence for trade, recruitment of investors, technology transfer and technical assistance. A regular monthly ministerial meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, helped to manage investors' concerns including the question over the availability of foreign currency.

The promotion of feasible projects contributed to better development assistance and FDI inflows. Proper follow-up and support mechanisms during pre- and post - investment phases and trade partnerships should be encouraged, as well as broadening relevant inputs and effective promotion of measures taken by the Government to encourage more investment and trade and tourism. Also necessary were continuous performance assessments, expedition of establishment of industrial zones; encouragement of quality, standards and affordable pricing of tourist destinations; and the process of one-stop-shop service provisions. Strengthening coordination with regional bodies to address investment challenges was also emphasized.

In his concluding remarks, Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros underlined the need to further consolidate implementation in these areas, emphasizing the importance of being prepared to react positively to Government directives and encourage the attitudinal changes to provide the basis to pull Ethiopia and its people out of poverty.