Russia Eyes Increasing Trade, Economic Cooperation with Ethiopia: Ambassador

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Addis Ababa  November    2  /2019   Russia, which believes there are wide ranges of potential development areas, envisages increasing trade and economic cooperation with Ethiopia, Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia Evgeny Terekhin said that Ethiopia and Russia have great potential for developing cooperation in wide range areas.

Both countries enjoyed mutual benefit in various areas of the long-standing partnership and cooperation, he stated, however, the results achieved so far on the economic track do not yet correspond to the high level of political interaction.

Thus, Ambassador Terekhin noted “we are now focused, first of all on increasing cooperation in trade and economy.”

“The potential of bilateral trade and economic cooperation in investment projects is high; however, both Russian and Ethiopian businessmen do not yet know enough each other’s capability. Therefore, we are trying through various mechanisms to inform Russian [businesses] about such possibilities,” the ambassador said.

According to him, Rosatom, Inter RAO, GPB Global Resources, Russian Railways, KAMAZ and UAZ are some of the companies that are interested to invest in Ethiopia besides the existing companies.

Energy sector, hydrocarbon production, infrastructure and peaceful use of nuclear are amongst the areas that the two countries can apparently cooperate, he noted.

Intended to strengthen the cooperation with Africa, Russia has hosted the first ever Russia-Africa summit in Sochi that attract representatives from all the African countries.

During the meeting President Vladimir Putin has promised to further African cooperation without "political or other" interference. 

Over 500 agreements worth over 12 billion USD were signed during the summit between Russian and African companies.

Five billion USD agreements intended to create bilateral trade support fund under consideration of the low solvency of African partners were reached during the summit.

The cooperation framework agreement signed between Ethiopia and Russia for peaceful use of nuclear technology was among the bilateral agreements signed at the sideline of the summit.

The Ambassador described the summit as “an unprecedented event in its scale and fruitfulness.”

“The summit opened up a new page in the history of Russia’s relations with African countries,” he underscored.

He added that the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed being winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2019 was ‘a special sprit’ to the whole event.

Terekhin anticipates that Prime Minister Abiy’s and President Putin’s meeting will have strong impact to the development and cooperation between the two countries in every field.

The two countries cooperate on international issues of common concern, Ambassador Terekhin said, adding that “our countries take common positions, mostly in all vital international issues.”

“We consistently advocate strengthening fair and democratic principles of international relations, respecting the UN Charter, searching collective answers to large-scale challenges and threats and respecting the right of each nation to independently determine its future,” he noted. 

Ethiopia and Russia have established diplomatic relations dates back 120 years ago.

Ethiopian News Agency
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