All Africa
Government of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)
An Ethiopian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Dr Tedros Adhanom concluded an official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco, after holding bilateral discussions with Mohamed Boussaid, Minister of Economy and Finance of Morocco on Tuesday (May 13).
Mohamed Boussaid, Minister of Economy and Finance, who detailed Morocco’s successes and challenges in the economic field as well as the country’s commercial relations with other countries, underlined the need to cooperate to rise up to the challenges and ultimately maximize the benefits for the peoples of the two countries.
He emphasized that his country believes strengthening the partnership between Morocco and Ethiopia will have paramount importance to fast-track the economic transformation in the African continent. Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Sufian Ahmed, on his part said Ethiopia’s plan to open an Embassy in Rabat aims to usher bilateral ties into a new stage of development. This demonstrates Ethiopia’s commitment to cooperate with Morocco for more progress. He also extended an invitation to high-level government officials of the Kingdom of Morocco to participate at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July, 2015. Both Ministers agreed to organize and facilitate an Ethio-Moroccan Business Forum in July this year on the sideline of the Third Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa.
The two sides also identified tourism, infrastructure and agriculture as key areas of cooperative partnership. Minister Mohamed Boussaid promised to make the Business Forum a complete success and agreed to visit Ethiopia and proactively engage at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July. Dr Tedros, who was appreciative of the warm hospitality extended to the Ethiopian delegation, noted that this is a testimony of genuine brotherhood. Dr Tedros said the proposed Business Forum will be a bigger platform to pursue win-win economic cooperation and share best experiences through the business communities of the two countries.
He also went on to note that the planned official visit of Foreign Minister and other high-level officials of Morocco in July this year will serve as an opportunity to establish a Joint Ministerial Commission, sign draft agreements on strategic sectors of cooperation, and map out the road ahead to turn those agreements into concrete action. On the same day, Dr Tedros heading the delegation visited the Mohammed V Mausoleum in Rabat, observed a minute of silence at the graves of the late kings Mohammed V and Hassan II, and signed the visitors’ book of the Mohammed V Mausoleum.
