Ethiopia, Germany to Resume Development CooperationEthiopia and Germany Monday expressed willingness to press ahead with their development cooperation disrupted in 1998 due to the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Ethiopian News Agency reported Monday in Addis Ababa.During a meeting here on Monday between Ethiopian President Negaso Gidada and German Vice Minister of Economic Development and Cooperation Uschi Eid, the two sides have agreed to resume their development cooperation as peace and stability returned to the African horn following the signing of the Ethio-Eritrean peace accord, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying. Germany reportedly suspended its development cooperation with some countries due to budgetary constraints. The two sides also agreed to hold an Ethio-German joint consultation meeting which would be held in Germany next October to discuss ways of further strengthening the development cooperation between the two countries. After the meeting, Eid said that Germany was willing to invigorate its bilateral cooperation with Ethiopia particularly in the areas of education, capacity building as well as democracy and governance. He expressed the belief that the signing of the peace accord has created a conductive environment for the continuation of the Ethio-German development cooperation. Since the end of the two-year border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the German government has been actively seeking opportunities to engage in road construction and telecom cooperation in Ethiopia. |
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