KAMPALA – On the fourth and final leg of his official visit to the East and Great Lakes region of Africa, Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, who also doubles as the Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the Presidents of Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia on Thursday afternoon.
The deputy premier and his delegation was received by the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, Henry Okello Oryem, and the Ambassador of Ethiopia to Uganda, Her Excellency Etsegenet Yimenu.
H.E Demeke came to attend the Heads of State Summit of the Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) at Entebbe State House hosted by President Yoweri Museveni.
H.E. Demeke briefed the presidents of the troop-contributing countries on the ongoing consolidation of peace in Ethiopia. All leaders praised Ethiopia’s commitment to peace.
At the end of the successful summit, a Joint Communique commending Ethiopia and other parties for their contributions to Somalia’s stability was issued. The Summit aimed to examine the progress made in the implementation of the ATMIS mission and to review the ATMIS drawdown plan in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 26/70 (2022) and 26/28.
During the last four days, H.E. Demeke visited Tanzania, the Comoros, and Burundi and held bilateral discussions with the leaders of the three sister African nations in a bid to bolster relations and resolve peace and security issues in the Horn of Africa.
The DPM and his delegation took some time to visit their embassy in Kololo and commended staff on the job well done in strengthening the relationship between Uganda and Ethiopia. At the dinner organised for him, he also hailed Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia for keeping the Ethiopian culture alive in Uganda.
Commenting about the visit, Mr Meles Alem, the spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the Federal Republic of Ethiopia said they were in Kampala for a couple of days with a sole purpose of deepening the Ethiopia-Uganda ties that have been around over 50 years.
“His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia is expected to have courtesy calls to his Excellency President Yoweri Museveni. We are expecting them to deliberate on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. Coincidentally, Ethiopia and Uganda enjoy very strong traditional ties,” he said, adding that the governments in Kampala and Addis Ababa have common challenges such as terrorism.
Mr Meles explained that the trade between Ethiopia and Uganda is not significant, and they have to see how they can really boost trade and investment between the two. He shared that the Ethiopian Airlines flies between Ethiopia and Uganda as well and it could be a tool to boost investment and tourism.
“As members of the Nile Basin initiative, we have also common interest on the usage of River Nile, among all basin countries. Kampala has ratified the Nile Basin Initiative. We are also expecting other countries in the region to do the same. We have a lot of interests for both Ethiopia and Uganda to do,” he said.
He added: “Even though we do not share a geography, these two countries are very instrumental on the African Union, prior to that, on the Organisation of African Unity and other multilateral forums. The relationship at the bilateral level is very super; we have to also look for ways on how we can cooperate on multilateral forums such as the African Union and United Nations.”
