The new Ethiopian diplomatic height, which has passed through all the ups and downs, is a great milestone in the nation’s history, Institute of Foreign Affairs Asian and Pacific Director-General and Senior Researcher Anteneh Getachew said.
According to him, Ethiopia’s membership on January 1, 2024, and signing of the historic Ethiopia-Somaliland MoU on the same day demonstrate the diplomatic height the country has reached.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, the director-general added that all actors, including the diaspora, people, and leadership as well as the diplomats at the front line have played their roles in bringing Ethiopia to this historic stage.
Ethiopia has an established history as a founding member of multilateral organizations like the League of Nations, the UN as well as the OAU.
Now, Ethiopia has joined the BRICS because of its national interest, Anteneh said, adding that this is not a matter of abandoning one bloc and joining the other.
Ethiopia’s foreign policy is non-alignment and the country works with BRICS and with the Western countries, the director-general noted.
Ethiopia remains committed and ready to play a constructive role in promoting peace and prosperity as a new member of the BRICS family in collaboration with all its members.
In the post-reform era, that is after the coming of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power, foreign policy has given priority to neighboring countries; and that has been recently manifested.
The director-general stressed that PM Abiy has been very much committed to peaceful diplomacy.
Highlighting also one of the pillars of Ethiopia’s foreign policy that focuses on regional integration, he said infrastructure is the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about regional integration.
As a result, building infrastructure, energy diplomacy, green legacy diplomacy and all these have been experienced in Ethiopia. This shows that Ethiopia is really committed to realizing regional integration.
“If integrated, you have a common fate, a shared interest, a common purpose. So, we want to have the shared prosperity we aspire for in this region,” the director-general underlined.
But at the same time, Ethiopia has raised a genuine and justifiable question of the need for access to the sea and building a naval force.
According to Anteneh, the neighboring countries should listen and understand the country’s genuine concern, which is a matter of presenting our justifiable reason why we need access to the sea.
The recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Partnership and Cooperation signed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Muse Bihi Abdi includes wide scopes of cooperation in social, economic, political, and military fields.
For the director-general, the current geo-political dynamics in the region, Ethiopia’s diplomatic stature, its history, and population size, among others, show that Ethiopia deserves access to the sea, which is a genuine question.
A justifiable question about access to the sea is now raised and we want a win-win solution, he stressed.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency
