News in Brief Completing GERD is a Matter of Ensuring Ethiopia’s Sovereignty: Deputy PM Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonnen, noted completing GERD project is a matter of ensuring the sovereignty of the country. H.E. Demeke, who is also Chairperson of the National Council on the Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) made the remark at a symposium organized in connection with the 10th anniversary of commencement of the dam. Water experts, scholars drawn from higher education institutions and other officials were in attendance of the event organized by the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy. “Developing the Abay River and completing the dam go beyond working for the future generation. It is a matter of ensuring the sovereignty of the country,” Demeke told the participants. Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Dr Seleshi Bekele, for his part briefed the participants on the progress of the GERD. The project has now reached seventy- nine percent and the second phase of filling the dam will start in the coming rainy season, the Minister said. The GERD is to produce electricity for Ethiopia’s more than hundred million people, of which around seventy percent live in darkness with no access to electricity. In fact, the benefit of the GERD is beyond Ethiopia as it will ensure regulated flow of water throughout the year, serve as an additional water bank with less evaporation rate, reduce sediment load and increase the life of downstream reservoirs and water infrastructures, and offers protection against floods and has less evaporation of water. Therefore, the dam is truly transformative in all aspects for all the basin countries.
H.E. Ato Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance of Ethiopia, visits Brussels H.E. Ato Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, made a three-day working visit to Brussels from March 24-26,2021. During his visit, he met and held a fruitful exchange of views with the European Commission high officials including H.E. Madam Jutta Urpilainen, EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, H.E. Mr Janez LENARCIC, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, and H.E. Eamon Gilmore, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights. The Minister briefed the Commissioners about overall developments in Ethiopia including the upcoming national election. He further explained about concrete steps being taken with regard to the provision of Humanitarian Assistance and the investigation of Human Rights violations in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The two sides also exchanged views on the current status of Ethio-Sudan boarder, the GERD negotiations as well as issues concerning Ethiopia-EU development cooperation. During the discussion, the EU side recognised the positive developments registered in allowing unfettered access and the commencement of investigation to bring to justice perpetrators for alleged crimes of human rights violations in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. They also called to strengthening these positive developments. The EU officials further noted that the EU highly values its strategic partnership with Ethiopia and its key role in the Horn of Africa region. It’s to be recalled that the two sides reached into ‘Towards EU-Ethiopia Strategic Partnership’ in 2016.
The project is financed solely by the Ethiopian government and contributions from Ethiopians and those Ethiopian origins in the diaspora from all over the world.
H.E. Ahmed Shide meeting with EU commissioners
H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
24
The Ethiopian Messenger
