Ethiopia Believes in equitable utilization of transboundary water: Envoy 

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ambassador to Pakistan HE Jemal Beker Abdula on Wednesday said his country fully believed and advocated the international rule of equitable and reasonable utilization of the transboundary water.

According to the press release issued on Friday said the ambassador made these remarks while briefing the Foreign Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Dr Asad Majeed Khan in a meeting about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam being built on the Nile River with a 6,500-megawatt hydropower generation capacity of clean and sustainable energy.

H.E. Jemal Baker said the Government of Ethiopia has been pursuing all the international standards to build the largest dam in Africa which would essentially play a critical role in regional integration through the energy grid that gives priority for neighbouring and riparian countries. “We have always called for equitable and reasonable utilization of transboundary water to sort out differences with the lower riparian countries.”

The envoy also discussed salient contours of bilateral relations with the foreign secretary outlining priority areas wherein both countries could diversify their cooperation to deepen the longstanding and historic ties in diverse fields of science, technology, tourism, economy and others.

Both the dignitaries agreed to foster bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation between the two countries through increased political engagement at all fora.

Briefing the foreign secretary on the current political and economic situation in Ethiopia, the ambassador said normalcy had been returned to northern parts of his country due to the successful implementation of the peace agreement signed in Pretoria last year between the Government of Ethiopia and Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF). 

He said the issue in the northern part of Ethiopia was resolved through Africa-owned and Africa-led solution and now we are at the reconstruction, rebuilding and reconciliation phases. 

The ambassador gave a detailed briefing to Dr Asad Majeed about the trade delegation of Pakistani businessmen flown to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia last month for bringing the two big nations more close.

Foreign Secretary appreciated the Government of Ethiopia on the successful implementation of the peace agreement and assured the envoy of the role which Pakistan could play in the post-conflict reconstruction of northern Ethiopia.

With regard to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Dr Asad said that dialogue was not only an effective but also a peaceful way to resolve conflicts.

The foreign secretary also lauded the efforts of the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Pakistan for successfully mobilizing a trade delegation of 100 businessmen to Addis Ababa.

The ambassador, during the meeting, also briefed Dr Asad about the high-level official delegation of the Government of Ethiopia visiting Pakistan in the next month to further strengthen the already flourishing bilateral ties between the two countries.