Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen led a delegation to Freetown for a working visit to the Republic of Sierra Leone at the end of last week (January 11-13). The delegation, which included Ministers as well as senior government officials, was warmly welcomed in Freetown by Vice-President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh. The visit aimed to boost bilateral and diplomatic ties between the two countries, and Deputy Prime Minister Demeke held fruitful discussions with the President of Sierra Leone, Julis Maada Bio on ways to consolidate the relationship in all areas of cooperation in a spirit of mutual benefit. Their talks covered issues of interest to both countries, focusing on the need to reactivate existing bilateral mechanisms and expand cooperation on social and economic areas in a spirit of friendship and solidarity.
The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a Political Consultation Mechanism and an Agreement on General Cooperation. Speaking at the signing ceremony, President Julius Maada Bio stressed that Ethiopia’s progressive, democratic and development-oriented policies which had made serious strides in moving people out of poverty and its character of leadership were worth emulating. He said “This is a great and strategic relation that we must follow because Ethiopia has achieved quite a lot. So, we have to follow that relationship for the good of our people here in Sierra Leone.”
Deputy Prime Minister Demeke underlined that Ethiopia truly valued time-tested and strong diplomatic ties of close to half a century. He noted Ethiopia and Sierra Leone’s roles in the anti-colonial struggle and their significant contributions to the establishment of the Organization of African Unity and its transformation into the African Union. He also applauded the commitment shown by Sierra Leone in sending Peace Keeping Troops and Police Officers to the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM.
A high-level consultative meeting on bilateral cooperation was held during the visit, attended by ministers and senior officials from both sides. The two sides exchanged views on potential areas of cooperation, including education, health, tourism, mining, real estate development, aviation, democracy and good governance. They agreed to strengthen existing cooperation in the health sector, citing the deployment of Ethiopia’s health professionals to Sierra Leone in order to help deal with the spread of Ebola in 2014, and to work on identification of feasible areas of cooperation in other fields.
