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| Ambassador's Speech>2011 >110823 | |||||
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| at the Opening Session of the Ninth Annual Bilateral Policy Dialogue at MOFED on 23 August, 2011 |
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| Your Excellency Ato Ahmed Shide, State Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Masaki Noke, Deputy Director-General of the International Cooperation Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ladies and Gentlemen, Endemen Aderachehu It is a great pleasure for me to attend this Ninth Annual Bilateral Policy Dialogue on economic cooperation between our two countries. Following Your Excellency’s remarks, I would like to say a few words on behalf of the Japanese delegation at this opening session. At the outset, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to MOFED for the warm hospitality extended to us and the excellent arrangements for today’s meeting. Now, I would like to take a moment to touch upon the earthquake and tsunami of unprecedented scale which hit Japan last March. I want to express my heart-felt appreciation to the Government and people of Ethiopia for their deep concern, sympathy and encouragement expressed for the people in Japan who suffered from this awful disaster. I am also grateful for the generous donation the Ethiopian Government made, amounting to 5.4 million ETB, by raising funds from wide-ranging quarters of the Ethiopian society. The Japanese people were touched and encouraged by the solidarity shown by your Government and people. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all of you. To date, untiring efforts have been made in Japan for rehabilitation and reconstruction in tsunami-hit areas. Some impressive progress has already been made. Similar efforts have been exerted to cope with the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. In this context, I want to emphasize, every precautionary measure is being taken to ensure food safety and human safety. I also want to reassure you that despite all these difficulties, Japan will remain firm in its commitment to African development made at TICAD IV in Yokohama. Our commitment to Ethiopia will also remain unchanged. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been looking forward to this Policy Dialogue because it is very timely for both of us for several reasons. Number one, this is the first bilateral dialogue we have had with MOFED since the GTP was introduced by the Ethiopian Government as the five-year blueprint for development from 2011 to 2015. We are very anxious to hear your assessment on how the GTP has been implemented during the first year, what outcomes you have had and what lessons you have learned through its implementation. Secondly, with the adoption of the GTP by Ethiopia the Japanese Government and JICA started to review Japan’s ODA policy toward Ethiopia, a process still underway. We are now near the end of this work, and therefore, this meeting is also very timely for us to share our thoughts with you. This task will be entrusted later in the session to my colleague, Mr. Noke. Here, I just want to say that Japan is ready to support Ethiopia in implementing the GTP with particular emphasis on agriculture and rural development, as well as industrial development. Thirdly, this is the first time for us to have a representative from Tokyo for our Policy Dialogue. This is significant. In view of the important issues to be discussed here, it is appropriate that the headquarters is represented at the proper level at this meeting. I hope that this practice will continue in the coming years. Fourthly, I am pleased to hear that Your Excellency is scheduled to visit Japan for the first time this fall. Therefore, this dialogue will also provide a good opportunity as a preparation for your trip to Japan. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Japan is not among the top donors to this country. This is partly because Ethiopia is one of the most favorite recipients of aid for donors. A large amount of ODA currently pours into Ethiopia. Yet, we are proud that Japan has played its own unique role for the development of Ethiopia in several important areas. Let me briefly give three examples. The first is our continued support for industrial development. We are confident that the policy dialogue for industrial development, which we continued for the past two years, provided a good opportunity to share with Ethiopian counterparts our knowledge and experience on industrialization in Japan and other East Asian countries. The Kaizen Initiative is part of this support and a good example of collaboration between our two countries. We believe kaizen is useful for Ethiopia to improve its quality and productivity in manufacturing. The second example is our engagement in mathematics and science education at junior high and high schools. Our JOCV members are actively involved in this area, and a technical cooperation program for training teachers and administrators in regional education bureaux started this year. The third example is our grassroots and human security projects (GGPs). These are small scale projects in education, water supply, health and other areas of basic human needs. The key features of GGPs are the relatively quick implementation and the direct benefits for residents, mainly in rural areas. These two characteristics make GGPs very popular throughout Ethiopia. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Japan understands that about 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are suffering from food shortages and malnutrition due to the worst drought to have hit East Africa for the past six decades, coupled with the continued armed conflict in Somalia. To avert a massive catastrophe in human lives, the Japanese Government disbursed five million USD to WFP last month so that emergency food supplies could be made available to the drought and famine victims in the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia. With this disbursement, Japan’s contribution to the entire Horn of Africa for humanitarian assistance now amounts to about 97 million USD since the beginning of this year. Finally, let me express my wish that this Bilateral Policy Dialogue will be inclusive and participatory, and that it will help deepen our mutual understanding of our development cooperation and partnership. Amesegnalehu! |
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