Keynote Address by H.E. Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin at the UN Country Team Retreat

14 – 15 May 2008,

Mekelle,

Tigray Regional State

Excellency Ato Tsegaye Berhe,

President of the Tigray Regional State,

Excellency Mr. Fidele Sarassoro,

UN Resident Coordinator, UN Humanitarian Coordinator

and UNDP Resident Representative,

Excellency Mrs. Alice Ouedraogo,

Director of ILO Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa,

and Chair of the UNCT Retreat

Excellencies, Resident Representatives of UN Agencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to address you here in Mekelle. It is I believe a particularly appropriate place to hold your Retreat. Here, you are surrounded by three thousand years of history, of Ethiopian history. Indeed, as some of you may recently have noticed a team of German archaeologists have just reported the finding of what may possibly be the Queen of Sheba’s very own palace. It’s certainly a building of the right date. Equally, you are here not far from my own constituency, and as I am sure you are aware, the problems provide a microcosm of all of the difficulties that Ethiopia faces today, just as I believe it also offers possible options for ways forward.  

You are here as representatives of all the UN agencies operating in Ethiopia, and you are most welcome. I don’t, I am sure, have to tell you how much Ethiopia values the UN and its agencies, or the work you, and your agencies, do.   Ethiopia was a founding member of the United Nations after the Second World War, one of the very few African states to sign the UN Charter. And we have constantly, through various and very different governments, supported the UN and its activities, playing a significant role, for example, in peacekeeping operations from Korea in the early 1950s to Darfur today. Of course, we have also benefited from such operations ourselves, from the activities of UNMEE – not so very far away from here, and whose eventual fate, of course, you know very well about.  

You represent many agencies whose work has been, and remains, of inestimable value to Ethiopia. Nevertheless, the world is changing. It is no longer the world of the 1940s when we first began to cooperate. Today we live in a globalized environment. The international community, as Ethiopia itself, is facing new challenges, and new threats, both natural and un-natural. We have to adapt. Ethiopia has to change and we have taken the opportunity of our New Millennium to launch an Ethiopian Renaissance to begin the implementation of such changes. The UN has to change as well, which essentially means that we member states have to ensure that the UN changes and adapts to new circumstances. 

Distinguished Participants,

Dear Friends,  

I will, if I may, return to this point shortly, but first I would like to look at Ethiopia’s foreign policy and its core elements.  Frankly speaking, what we embarked upon   seventeen years ago was to bring about a new Ethiopia based on novel principles of governance, novel, that is, for Ethiopia.  In foreign policy as well, though not yet sufficiently articulated, what we tried to introduce was a new approach in the way Ethiopia conducted diplomacy.  This was finally put in a systematic manner on paper in 2003 and it was put out as Ethiopia's Foreign Policy and National Security Strategy based on a realistic appreciation of our national interests, and our own internal vulnerabilities, both economic and political. The thrust of the new approach was to identify our most critical internal challenges and relate them to external, regional, and global factors. I am referring here to the central threats to the survival of the Ethiopian state. I would categorize these as economic backwardness and the abject poverty in which most of our people live, as well as the need for democracy and good governance without which Ethiopia, we are convinced, cannot survive as a nation. 

Indeed, the fight against poverty, the building of democracy and the entrenchment of good governance are essential issues of survival. And the need to deal with these challenges provides the fundamental base of our new foreign policy, a paradigm shift from policies of previous regimes. The most obvious example of this is the emphasis we now place on economic diplomacy, marked, for instance, to take just one example from our Ministry, by the creation of a Directorate-General of Business and Economy, responsible for encouraging investment as well as the promotion of exports. This has necessitated an approach which is non-rhetorical and pragmatic, designed to encourage the highest levels of economic cooperation as well as the development of mutual trust and confidence, both with our immediate neighbors and more widely. Our yardstick for relationships is the extent to which others are prepared to involve themselves with us in a mutually beneficial partnership for economic cooperation in investment and trade.  This applies both to our bilateral relations as well as to our multilateral engagements.  No part of the world can be a better example than our own region for how much peace, stability and security are so critical for economic development.  That is why we attach so much importance to doing whatever we can for peace.  Peace is an obsession for us, and our foreign policy strategy makes this an imperative.  Thus, our relations with all countries are firmly anchored in the cardinal principles of good neighbourliness, peaceful coexistence, peaceful resolution of disputes and reducing threats to national security interests.  

I would repeat: our central enemy, contrary to what may believe, is not Eritrea or any other entity.  It is poverty.  Our foreign policy, to reiterate, is dedicated to the two main objectives of economic development and democratization, the achievement of both of which is equally necessary if we are to win our war.  

Though we have had some hiccups, we have indeed been very successful in our foreign policy over the past decade or so, based on the strategy I just outlined.  First of all, our ties with all our neighbours, except one which requires little explanation, have been very successful.  We have managed to build strong relations of co-operation with all of them.  This is most emphatically true with respect to the political area, but we have also been making tangible progress in the economic area and in laying the infrastructural basis for an even greater engagement with our Horn neighbors.  No doubt, there is still much that we need to do with  the Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya to expand our economic ties -- more with some than others -- but what we have already done is very encouraging.  We look forward to establishing the same level of co-operation with Somalia which, I hope, would be soon. 

I would be frank with you.  Even in the political areas and the security field, though we have no reason for complaint, we still need to do more --- much more --- to strengthen our co-operation to ensure sustainable peace and security in the Horn of Africa.  The image of the Horn has to change.  The welfare of our people demands it.    This is also made imperative by our national interest --- the interests of all countries of our region.  We are in the same boat.  We share the same malady -- poverty. 

That is the enemy for all of us.  That is why, in fact, we cannot be proud of our inability to bring to a closure the dispute between us and Eritrea.  But, as the Chinese saying goes, one cannot clap with one hand.      

Excellencies,

Dear Friends, 

We follow the same approach in our foreign policy towards countries outside of our region, and outside Africa.  For us, the linchpin of our relations with others is the level of economic ties we have with those countries.  Why?  Because, as already said, Ethiopia's survival lies in its ability to overcome its economic problems.  It is economic diplomacy which is the bulwark of our national security.  Those who contribute to our economic progress and to the deepening of our democracy are our genuine partners whose friendship would have direct meaning for our survival as a nation.   

As mentioned earlier, the same approach applies to our engagement at the multilateral level.  The difference here is that multilateral fora are places where we also try to cater to our collective interests as members of the international community.  Here as well, we have tried to be as responsible as humanly possible.  Look at our involvement in peacekeeping. 

This takes me to what you have asked me to say a few words on what I consider to be the global challenges confronting the international community and Ethiopia in particular.

Let me preface my response to this very complex matter with a general statement which, I suppose, many would accept as not too far from the truth -- we seem to be going through a major transformation internationally whose outcome cannot yet be defined with any certainty.  The transformation embraces Africa as well.  It is impossible to talk now in the same way that we had talked about Africa in the 1980s and well into the 1990s -- about how the continent was being marginalized.  Few are those who would now dismiss Africa as not being all that relevant to how world events may be shaped in the coming decades.

But Africa is not yet out of the woods in terms of its economic situation and from the point of view of ensuring the wellbeing of its peoples.  This continues to be the fate of the developing world in general.  Accordingly, for the developing world in general, for Africa and for Ethiopia, the major challenge we continue to face is rooted in our economic situation.  The situation cannot be sustained.  The existing imbalance between the developed and the developing world cannot be sustained for long.  Poverty leads to hopelessness and to malaise and to the creation of so much combustible material which is dangerous for all.  Look at the situation we are facing today with respect to the rapid rise in the price of food and energy.  Even those in the developed would are feeling the pressure.  This is a ticking time bomb which needs to be defused sooner than later.  I already referred to combustible materials.  Terrorism and poverty might not have direct causal relationship.  But it is undeniable, poverty and the hopelessness that grows out of it is fertile ground for the growth of extremism.

Related to this, is the global climate change which continues to have a major impact on our attempt to change our economic situation for the better.  For us, and for many in the developing world, the agricultural sector is the basis for our economic transformation.  As such, the negative impact of climate change on our agriculture is felt not only in terms of lack of food for immediate life-sustaining consumption, but it has also a devastating impact on our prospect for development.  It must however be emphasized that Africa's contribution to global warming is indeed minimal.

As Ethiopia, of course, we have enormous challenges in the health field with respect to the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic with respect to which, thanks to international co-operation, we have made some progress.  We thank all those partners, bilateral and multilateral, who have been so generous in their assistance in these areas as well as in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis.

There is another scourge we continue to face --- the scourge of conflict.  This is a challenge for our region.  I would be frank here as well.  The gestures of co-operation we have been getting from the international community to maintain the rule of law and some level of sanity--which are so critical for ensuring peace and security -- have been indeed very few and far between.  Thus, genuine and effective co-operation for peace and stability in our region continues to be a major challenge which is unlikely to change in the near future.

The UN can play a major role in all this, in the economic area in the fight against poverty -- as exemplified by the MDGs--and for peace and stability by galvanizing international solidarity behind the attempt to marginalizing those parties who continue to impede regional peace and security and harmony among peoples.

Dear Friends,

But what is the UN? and, by the some token, what can the AU do?  These multilateral fora, one global, the other continental, can be as good as their members are prepared to make them become.  What can the UN do for peace in the Horn of Africa independent of the political will and sense of responsibility of members of the Security Council? 

That is why it is so critical that some of the organs of the UN such as the Security Council are democratized and their working method is made more transparent than is the case now.  Ethiopia has no aspiration to have any special position or place on the Security Council.  Some have.  Our interest is to see the UN become more proactive for peace, to be a more effective vehicle for genuine economic co-operation and in the fight against poverty as well as to be the conscience of the people of the world in defense of human rights and humanitarian laws.  We genuinely believe that we, the peoples of the world, have a common purpose and common interest.  These require little elaboration.  We want to see the UN become -- as it is created to be --- an effective custodian of these common interests we have.  The world we inhabit is becoming progressively smaller, a true village.  It is downright silly for all of us and the gravest of irresponsibilites for us to overlook this even for a moment.  But we do it all the time.  This has to change at the level of national states and among those who are in a position to make a difference.   That is when we will have put in place the necessary condition for making the UN a more effective instrument for advancing our common interests, and for protecting the global village from the real potential threats we face, some of which I have already indicated.

Excellencies and Dear Friends,

As I conclude, I would like to say a few words in connection with the business you are here for.  In this regard, I want to express my profound appreciation for the exemplary effort of the United Nations Country Team for its report examining the structural, organizational and functional changes needed to apply the proposed UN Reforms in Ethiopia. This addresses a number of critical issues which you will no doubt discuss further during this retreat. I would also offer my gratitude for the special tribute paid to our New Millennium in this report. Equally, I share the Team’s assessment that a lot still remains to be done to overcome entrenched constraints and make UN organizations fully effective and efficient in their operations in Ethiopia. Regional States, of course, also have important responsibilities in the implementation of   programs and projects supported by partners, in accordance with the Federal Government’s policy on devolution. I would therefore emphasize the need to involve them, as well as the relevant federal ministries, in a real way in the exercise of UN-sponsored activities at all stages.  This is both in the interest of effective implantation of programs and enhancing mutual trust and confidence.

Finally, let me thank the organizers of this Retreat for this occasion and for their kind invitation.  It is my firm conviction that you will succeed in your effort and I wish you good lack.  I am sure your deliberations will further assist the advancement of our development efforts and they will provide positive contributions to further strengthen the already highly valuable activities of the UN in Ethiopia. 

I thank you.