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| Ambassador's Speech>2012 >120904 | |||||
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| At the Opening Session of the Tenth Annual Bilateral Policy Dialogue at MOFED on 04 September, 2012 |
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| Your Excellency Ato Ahmed Shide, State Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ladies and Gentlemen, Endemen Aderachehu It is a great pleasure for me to attend the Annual Bilateral Policy Dialogue on economic cooperation between our two governments. This is the tenth round since we started this policy dialogue. 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 heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Ethiopia on the passing of H.E. Ato Meles Zenawi, late Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Prime Minister Meles steered the economic development of this country, served peace and stability of the Horn of Africa, spoke on behalf of the continent for African development and climate change and played a key role in strengthening Ethio-Japan relations. May his soul rest in peace! I will follow these brief words of condolence by expressing my sincere appreciation to MOFED for the warm welcome extended to us and for all the arrangements made for today’s meeting. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, I attach importance to this policy dialogue as this is the only institutionalized dialogue on economic cooperation that we have between our two governments. This provides a useful framework for us to overview our ODA projects in Ethiopia as well as to know Ethiopian needs for its development before we submit our requests to Tokyo for the next fiscal year. With the adoption of the GTP by Ethiopia in 2010, we started reviewing Japan’s ODA policy and programs in Ethiopia. Through this process, we worked out a new policy guideline, which was endorsed by Tokyo in April this year. This is not so different from what we explained here last year. In short, Japan will continue to support Ethiopia in implementing the GTP through ODA, with particular emphasis on food security and industrial development. Therefore, we are anxious to know your assessment of the second year’s performance in the implementation of the GTP. In line with these major goals, four priority areas are specified in Japan’s ODA policy toward Ethiopia. The first is support for agricultural and rural development. Japan is committed to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition as a G8 member. We recognize the importance of the review and reform of Ethiopian agricultural policy and private sector investment in agriculture. Yet, our emphasis is placed on smallholder farmers, and we have helped and will help them increase productivity, expand farmland and improve livelihoods through technical cooperation in such areas as promoting quality seeds, improving agricultural marketing systems, irrigation development and so on, in addition to grants to procure fertilizer. The second priority area is support for industrial development. For the past three years, Japan has had a series of policy dialogue with Ethiopia for industrial development to share our knowledge and experience of industrialization in East Asia. We have also implemented the kaizen project in manufacturing. Both of the projects are now in the second phase, having completed the first phase successfully. The kaizen methods are being applied on a nationwide scale. These are the so-called “Meles projects.” The third is support for the development of economic and social infrastructure, which is crucial for the development of both agriculture and industry. Japan is now working on the road improvement project between Dejene and Lumame on Trunk Road #3 and also on the replacement of the Awash Bridge on Trunk Road #1. Both of these routes are important trade and industrial corridors. The feasibility study now underway on geothermal energy in Alto Langano is also part of our support in the power sector. The fourth is support for human resources development or education in a broader sense, which is also critical for sustainable development. Japan is working on the construction of primary and secondary schools in the Amhara Region, having completed similar projects in Addis Ababa and the Oromia Region. We are looking forward to starting a similar project in the SNNPRS. The other priority project is science and math education in secondary schools. In order to improve the quality of education in science and math, our JOCV members are actively engaged, and a technical cooperation program is underway for training teachers and administrators in regional education bureaux. We will help Ethiopia’s initiatives to scale this up. We will also urge Tokyo to allocate more resources for this area in the next fiscal year so that we can move faster and on a larger scale for better science and math education in secondary schools. This was also a priority project of the late Prime Minister. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me now touch upon TICAD, as Japan will host the TICADV meeting in Yokohama, from 1-3 June, next year. First, I would like to reiterate our invitation to your new Prime Minister, Your Excellency and other officials for TICADV. Indeed, 2013 is a memorable year for TICAD as it marks the 20th anniversary of the TICAD process. The preparation process for TICADV has already kicked off in Marakesh where we held the Follow-up Ministerial Meeting of TICADIV in May this year. The Co-organizers will gather in New York in September and prepare key concepts of TICADV. Then, African views will be reflected in them. There are two important occasions for this. They are the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) to be held in Burkina Faso in November and the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting in Addis Ababa in the first quarter of next year. Japan attaches great importance to the ownership of Africa and our partnership with Africa in this process. Now let me share some preliminary thoughts about the contents of TICADV. The major topic will be ensuring robust, sustainable economic growth in Africa. Growth continues to be important for development, and the driving force of growth is private sector activities such as trade and investment. The government can also play an important role in creating a favorable environment for those business activities by improving infrastructure, building institutions, developing human resources and so on. The other important issues at TICADV will be building resilient, inclusive societies as well as securing peace and security and improving governance. But I will not go into them now. Instead, I want to ask for your cooperation in the preparation process of TICADV as we expect your intellectual contribution regarding the issues, in particular your input on what African countries should do on their part. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, 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. Amesegenalehu! |
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