Ethiopian official applauds China's "multifaceted support" across range of areas

ADDIS ABABA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Thursday praised China for its "multifaceted support" to Ethiopia across a range of cooperation areas.

The remark was made by Dina Mufti, a spokesperson for Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when addressing journalists in his periodic briefing Thursday.

Mufti emphasized Ethiopia's ever-growing cooperation with China with closer high-level exchanges, stronger political mutual trust and improved bilateral relations. The spokesperson, in particular, recalled recent high-level exchanges as a manifestation of the two countries' deepening ties.

Mufti said Ethiopia appreciated China's commitments in supporting Ethiopia and fellow African countries' development. He further called for the realization of the outcomes of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in late November 2021.

He underscored China's support to the East African country across multilateral platforms that helped Ethiopia thwart threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Mufti said that the two countries recently held the second Ethiopia-China Political Consultation via video link, in which the two sides exchanged views on bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues of common concern, further pledging to strengthen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. He also noted communications between Ethiopian and Chinese high-level officials, including the visit of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Addis Ababa in early December 2021.

According to Mufti, the deepening bilateral ties among the two sides is presently evident across a range of areas including the construction, operation and maintenance of the 752-km Addis Ababa-Djibouti standard gauge railway, which is Africa's first electrified cross-border railway.

According to Mufti, Ethiopia's state minister of foreign affairs Redwan Hussien addressing the recently held Ethiopia-China Political Consultation commended China's plan to revitalize African economies as it was announced during the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC.

During the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, China said it will work closely with African countries to implement nine programs, which are the medical and health program, the poverty reduction and agricultural development program, the trade promotion program, the investment promotion program, the digital innovation program, the green development program, the capacity building program, the cultural and people-to-people exchange program, and the peace and security program.