France Desires to Expand Cooperations with Ethiopia in Various Areas: Amb Rémi Maréchaux

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Addis Ababa March 11/2023 (ENA) The French government is keen to elevate its longstanding diplomatic relations with Ethiopia, moving from assistance to investment, France Ambassador to Ethiopia, Rémi Maréchaux said.


 

The closing ceremony of yearlong celebration of the 125th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and France was held at the French Embassy in Addis Ababa on Friday.

All series of the events were closed with the award ceremony of the mural competition (paintings) on the wall of embassy buildings by young Ethiopian artist.

Efforts depicting Ethio-France cooperation, among others, in the areas of education, archaeology and heritage, literature, architecture, cinema  were on display to mark 125th anniversary.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ambassador Rémi Maréchaux said that the aforementioned areas of cooperations were very important to show that the relations are very rich, dense and diversified.


 

It’s important to have regular bilateral visit, the ambassador said, citing the recently visits by French delegation in January to Ethiopia and Prime Minister Abiy's visits to France, meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.

He explained that's very important to have this high level exchange in order to define the priorities of future project.

“We can build on 125 years of friendship of respect and mutual trust. So, this is a very solid foundation to expand the relation. That's what we intend to do. Now, the peace is consolidating in Ethiopia. So, we will be able to attract new investors in areas which are of common interest —i.e. mainly agriculture, energy and logistics,” he added.

Regarding the current situation, the ambassador said, the evolution of the situation in Ethiopia is very encouraging, citing the implementation of the November, 2/2022 peace agreement.

The ambassador further said the more the implementation progresses, the more we'll be able to resume the project we previously had.

“Our first priority is to support the implementation of the peace agreement. I had meeting with the rehabilitation commission, I also attended the meeting on transitional justice. So, that's two key elements of the peace agreement, in which we are ready to support,” he added.

In addition to this,  we have already engaged in project of reconstruction, currently rehabilitating the Dessie hospital. And we will soon sign an agreement to rehabilitate the Abala Hospital, he said.

The ambassador pointed that they also support the resumption of farming activities in the three regions affected by the war. So that's the short term that ''we support the peace process.''

“We would like to continue supporting the reform agenda of the Ethiopian government and our plan is to move from assistance to investment,” the ambassador said. 

According to the ambassador, it is important to create the environment together with the Ethiopian Government, mentioning there will be more French company to come and invest in the field of agriculture, energy  and logistics.


 

Rémi noted that the relations between France and Africa have been remained particularly important for my country.

Over 100 of thousands French national live in Africa where we have a network of 49 embassies and large number of cultural centers and French schools, the ambassador said.

Some 1700 French companies are based in Africa. French president visited 18 African countries and paid visit to Ethiopia in 2019, he noted.

He noted that Ethiopia holds a unique place in such rich relations as it is our oldest partner on the continent.

Ethiopian News Agency
2023