China Affirms Commitment to Support Education in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa March 22/2022 /ENA/ China has expressed commitment to support Ethiopia in education sector under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ethiopia's Ambassador to China, Teshome Toga held virtual bilateral talks today with Yan Bingchen, Deputy Director General of the International Department of the Chinese Ministry of Education on ways of further strengthening Ethiopia-China cooperation in the education sector  under FOCAC.

Recalling the agreement signed between the countries in 2004 on Educational Exchange and Cooperation and a follow-up Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2013, Ambassador Teshome highlighted the strong diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and China with particular focus on the strong cooperation in the education sector.

He also noted that Ethiopia wishes to deepen the fruitful bilateral cooperation in expanding scholarship opportunities, enhancing capacity building, and supporting technical and vocational education training.

Deputy director general Yan Bingchen on his part reiterated the strong cooperation between the two countries and stated that China is committed and ready to support Ethiopia in the education sector.

Similarly, Ethiopia and China also held fruitful discussion about economic and development cooperation between the countries.

The discussion focused on the status of the ongoing and new projects submitted by Ethiopia under the framework of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Ambassador Teshome Toga said on the occasion that China has supported Ethiopia in completing several infrastructure projects under FOCAC.

He further expressed his hope that ongoing and new projects among the 9 programs of the 8th  China-Africa Ministerial Conference would be implemented fully.  

The economic and development cooperation between Ethiopia and China has been growing and this demonstrates that the relationship between the countries is strong and mutually beneficiary, he noted.

According to him, Ethiopia also wants to further enhance trade and investment cooperation with China for the benefit of the two peoples.

Jiang Wei, Director General of West Asia and African Affairs at China Ministry of Trade, said that Ethiopia and China have remarkable relationship and the ministry would continue to enhance cooperation and engage with Ethiopian Embassy to realize the FOCAC action plan.

He also promised to encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Ethiopia.

China is currently the lead trading and development partner and the largest source of foreign direct investment of Ethiopia.