Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Ethiopia and Cuba have expressed their readiness to deepen all round
relations between the two countries. The remark was made during a high
level discussion held in Addis Ababa between the two countries with the
Cuban delegation led by its foreign minister Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez
Parrilla.
"Our bilateral ties should be a multifaceted one with party to party
relations taking the foundation," Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen
said during a brief meeting with the Cuban foreign minister at the
office of the EPRDF Secretariat.
The call was welcomed by Bruno Rodríguez, who came to Ethiopia to
participate in the 26th African, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union
Joint Parliamentary Assembly, which kicked off on Monday.
Both countries agreed to diversify the two countries' relations in
areas of health, education and agriculture development also promoting
people to people relations.
Appreciating the warm hospitality accorded to him and his delegation,
the foreign minister expressed his astonishment with Ethiopia's
development.
"We have witnessed a country that is working for development," Bruno
Rodríguez said. "This is highly commendable and we are ready to learn
from Ethiopia's experience and replicate some back home."
During his stay in Addis Ababa, Bruno Rodríguez also held discussions
with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros
Adhanom and Speaker of House of People's Representatives Abadula Gemeda.
The three decades old ties between the two countries is described by
some as a relation "knitted in blood" after Cuba sent soldiers to help
Ethiopia quell an invasion by Somalia in late 1970's.
Some 163 Cubans died during the war for whose honour a Friendship Park and a monument is put up in Addis Ababa.