Borkena
Toronto – The French President, Emmanuel Macron, on a visit to Ethiopia following a trip to Djibouti in what is said to be his traditional Christmas visit to French troops in Africa. France has 1500 troops in Djibouti.
He arrived at Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Saturday. Abiy Ahmed and his ministers greeted him upon arrival at the airport.
This year, the president did not make a trip to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as French soldiers have left the country following news governments in those countries, as reported by Le Monde, a French news source.
In Addis Ababa, Abiy Ahmed and Macron reportedly discussed bilateral and multilateral issues. Their meeting was held in the evening at the Jubilee palace (also known as the National Palace) , the restoration of which France funded. France is also funding the Lalibela preservation project. Abiy Ahmed “expressed his appreciation for the French government’s support in the renovation of the National Palace and the ongoing restoration of the rock hewn churches of Lalibela,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
There was also discussion about investment and enhancing ties and in education and culture – the detail of which is undisclosed .
Another key issue discussed was Ethiopia’s access to the sea. The Ministry of foreign Affairs reported that France reaffirmed commitment ” to working together [with Ethiopia] on sustainable solutions to this long-standing pursuit.”
Macron visited Ethiopia first in 2019.
__
Join our Telegram Channel : t.me/borkena
Like borkena on Facebook
Add your business to Ethiopian Business Listing / Ethiopian Business Directory
Join the conversation. Follow us on X (Formerly Twitter) @zborkena to get the latest Ethiopian News updates regularly. Subscribe to YouTube channel To share information or for submission, send e-mail to info@borkena.com
There was a new earthquake of 4.6 at Awash area yesterday. There was another earthquake of 4.4 at Massawa, Eritrea the same day. It seems the whole plate was trembling from the Indian Ocean all the way to Greece. Let’s hope this is not a rehearsal for a bigger one. The entire Horn of Africa is not prepared for a bigger and shallow earthquake which can be devastating beyond imagination. None of the countries are prepared for it.
There was another one that hit the area about 13 km fron Metahara. It was registered at 4.9 and was the strongest for the day anywhere in the entire world. I hope and pray no one was hurt. This is worrisome to me a lot knowing the regime let alone the general population are aware of the danger in the offing. Every time I see a photo of buildings in the capital built reaching the skies, I’m worried. I doubt there is pertinent building laws addressing the dangers of a major earthquake in place. They should learn from Taiwan. I remember when a major earthquake hit Taipei, Taiwan in September 1999. I was preparing to fly there from Hong Kong when suddenly our flight was cancelled. I had to reshuffle my itinerary and head to mainland China instead. The building laws particularly in that city were relaxed or ignored because earthquakes in Taipei area were very unusual even though Taiwan is the most active. But they learned from that. Thousands were killed and many missing. Tens of thousand business and residential building were completely destroyed. They paid a heavy price for negligence and being oblivious about the danger. It cost Taiwan tens of billion dollars. So the regime of the old country and city officials should learn from Taiwan. Otherwise, one of these days, a big one can hit major residential areas. Violent storms can be predicted and citizens warned about them but there will be no warning possible for an earthquake. Kaboom and you are gone. I call upon city officials there to be aware and ever vigilant about possible earthquake.