Need for Strengthening Public Diplomacy, Arabic Media Stressed at Conclusion of Eid-to-Eid Ceremony

Addis Ababa May 25/2022/ENA/ Officials and experts who attended the Eid-to-Eid Great Ethiopian Home Coming Initiative concluding event today have stressed the need to enhance public diplomacy and improve ties with Arab countries and the Middle East.

Ethiopian Diaspora Agency and the Eid-to-Eid Committee organized a symposium and an exhibition under the title " The Role of public diplomacy and Arabic media."

Opening the symposium, Government Communication Service State Minister Selamawit Kassa expressed the government's readiness to support public diplomacy and media outlets operating in the Arabic language in Ethiopia.

According to her, the Arabic media outlets have been playing a critical role in showing the real image of the country and defending the interest of the country by reaching the Arabic speaking world.

The public diplomacy by the Ethiopian Diaspora and the efforts made to enlighten the Arabic speaking people about the truth in the country has helped rectify the propaganda against Ethiopia during the challenging periods when external actors worked hard to prevent the country from resolving its internal problems, she added.

Ethiopian Diaspora Agency Deputy Director Mohammed Idris stressed the need to engage the diaspora to exploit the diverse potential and assets, including finance and knowledge for the country's development.

According to him, the first round of Eid-to-Eid initiative was carried out with a series of events of paramount importance and the concluding event aims at improving media outlets working in Arabic.

The second round of  Eid-to-Eid initiative will take place after a month on Eid Aladha.  

Eid-to-Eid Initiative Joint Committee Chairperson, Ustaz Abubeker said on his part that Ethiopian citizens everywhere should act as ambassadors for their country, appreciating the role Ethiopian Diasporas played during the challenging times.

The relationship of Ethiopia with Middle East countries is immense and it has to be wisely developed by strengthening the Arabic media outlets in the country, he stressed.

The chairperson pointed out that although there are media organizations in Ethiopia that report in Arabic most of them relatively face limited human resources and capacity.