Your Excellency Ato Amin Abdulkadir, Minister of Culture and Tourism,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Endemen Walachehu.

It is a great pleasure for me to celebrate the completion of the Project to Improve Equipment for the Hominid Fossil-related Facilities here at the National Museum of Ethiopia.  This project was funded by the Japanese cultural grant-in-aid scheme in JFY 2008, amounting to about 40 million Japanese Yen (approximately six million ETB or 446,000 USD).

As you all may know, a set of equipment for this project was already handed over in 2010 by my predecessor.  However, there was a delay in installing safes and microscopes, and today I am pleased to see all the equipment functioning in a proper manner.  Iron safe cabinets are installed and microscopes and a projector are in full use.

This project aims to keep human fossils of the “world treasure” class found in Ethiopia stored safely and in good condition.  It also aims at promoting international scientific research that would lead to further discoveries of such human fossils and stimulate public interest and education concerning these fossils.  To my pleasure, as we have seen today from the comprehensive briefings by Professor Gen Suwa of Tokyo University, Dr. Berhane Asfaw and Dr. Yonas Beyene, these objectives have more or less been met.  The Ardipithecus ramidus, which is 4.4 million years old and one of the most important hominid fossils in the world, has already been safely stored in one of the iron safe cabinets.  A number of international research teams have been using these cabinets to store their findings.  The cabinets and microscopes have been conducive to world class anthropological research.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The history of the human being is the biggest mystery that we still have to explore further.  Africa is the cradle of mankind and we are lucky to have Lucy for all posterity.  When we dig into this mystery and learn about our ancestors through the study of ancient fossils, we learn more about ourselves.  This is exactly what Professor Suwa’s team has been doing here.  I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the researchers for their day-to-day efforts.  In the same context, I am pleased that our Embassy and the Japanese Government were able to make a modest contribution to this ongoing research work.  I do hope that the equipment extended will be well maintained and used properly so that it will benefit as many researchers as possible here at the National Museum for many years to come.

Last but not least, I would like to express my appreciation to all those who have made strenuous efforts to make this project possible, including Ms. Mamitu Yilma, General Manager of the National Museum, Professor Suwa, Dr. Berhane and Dr. Yonas.  Without your dedication, this project would not have been completed.

Amesegenalehu.  Thank you very much.