Addis Ababa Has Potential to Further Expand Its Current Status as Largest Int'l Diplomatic Hub: Panelists

Addis Ababa May 11/2023(ENA):- Addis Ababa city has enormous potential to further expand its current status as the largest diplomatic hub in the world, panelists underscored.

A panel discussion organized by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) jointly with the Ethiopian Diaspora Service and Ovid Investment Group was held on Tuesday under the theme: “Addis Ababa in A New Diplomatic Height.”

 

Considering Addis Ababa city as the third largest diplomatic hub in the world, after New York and Geneva, the panel discussion was aimed at strengthening its role as the seat of diplomatic missions and international organizations.

Mohammed  Idris,  Director General of Ethiopian Diaspora Service said that the city has a lot of historical, economical and cultural advantages to remain center of diplomacy.    

Since cities drive the world's largest economy and they are taking the biggest role in diplomacy these days, the trend in the world shows a great desire to grow into urbanization, he pointed out.

For instance, by 2050, some 70 percent of the world's population is expected to live in cities. 

While over 760 million Africans will live in cities by 2030, according to the director general.

Addis Ababa is ranked among the top 20 countries with embassies of various nations around the world and the seat of 28 agencies of the United Nations (UN)

This makes Addis Ababa  one of the largest cities in the world by hosting significant numbers of UN agencies, the director-general underlined.

Therefore, those are comparative advantages for Addis Ababa to remain the hub of diplomacy and attract more global and continental agencies in opening up their office, Mohammed said.

Moreover, Addis Ababa city has culture, hospitality, historical advantages and a role at the global venue in establishing international institutions including the UN, he said.

"Our culture, hospitality, independence, and our role in establishing continental and international institutions, and the large development projects currently being carried out in Addis Ababa... They enable the city to become the world's leading diplomatic destination."

He also appreciated the current mega development projects being carried out in Addis Ababa to make it greenary and beautiful to help the capital  continue as the world's leading diplomatic destination.

 

However, the director-general said as the modern diplomacy is currently experiencing fundamental changes at an unprecedented rate Addis Ababa needs to exploit its potential to be attractive for non-state actors and others.

“In particular, Addis Ababa should work to become the seat of non-state actors. Today, these actors are scrutinizing the narrative of the media and international diplomacy. They are multibillionaires like Coca-Cola and many others. These giant companies can fundamentally change the image of the city (Addis Ababa) if they open their office here. Therefore, the city has to work hard to accomplish these."

These efforts will change the political and historical capitals of Addis Ababa into economic, social and cultural capitals demonstrating the fact that the city is an international seat, he underlined.

 

Dr. Zegye Chernet , an architect and lecturer at Addis Ababa University said on his part that Addis Ababa city  is one of the centers of hyper-urbanization which is serving as a political, diplomacy and cultural hub.

According to him, Addis Ababa city administration has started re-innovations and building the infrastructures in the city that are  vital to realize the real symbol of diplomatic city. 

“The re-innovation works on the city are human-oriented that we can say Addis Ababa is getting really urbanized despite the complicated infrastructural burdens in terms of  quality, accessibility, demand and other issues…”

Ahadu Radio General Manager and veteran journalist,  Tibebu Belete  urged the Addis Ababa city administration to create a favorable environment for more international media outlets to open their offices  in Addis Ababa with a view to promote the city for the rest of the world.” 

He added the media should also inform the international community about the current development initiatives of the capital as a symbol of modern Ethiopia.  

“A lot has to be done for Addis Ababa to become the seat of the international community. There are now various international media offices in Nairobi, Kenya. We need to facilitate such things like this. These media should be funded to promote the image of the city as well as the true version of Ethiopia as a country.”

Head of the communication office of Addis Ababa City Administration,  Enatalem  Tadese said Addis Ababa has executed massive greenery projects and  modern infrastructure initiatives that are merely human-oriented during the past three years. 

Sheger Park, Unity Park, Entoto Park, and other mega projects that have recently been completed in the city will have a lot of contribution in terms of consolidating the city's efforts to be a top diplomacy hub in the continent as well as in the world, she underlined.