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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Lula invites Ethiopian Prime Minister to Global Alliance against Hunger
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began his first official visit to Ethiopia on Friday, February 16. In the morning, he participated in a flower laying ceremony at a monument in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. He then held bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. At the weekend, he will be a special guest at the 37th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
During the meeting between the government teams, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed that he would be coming to Brazil to participate as a guest at the G20 Summit, which will take place in November in Rio de Janeiro. Other issues discussed were the necessity of modernizing the global governance system and an invitation for Ethiopia to integrate the Global Alliance against Hunger, one of the focuses of the Brazilian Presidency at the head of the G20. In the afternoon, President Lula will take part in the event "Climate finance for agriculture and food security: Implementation of the Nairobi Declaration and results of COP28".
» High-resolution photos of the bilateral meeting
» High-resolution photos of the flower laying ceremony
» High-resolution photos of the welcome ceremony
DIPLOMACY - The visit integrates the process of relaunching the Federal Government's foreign policy for African countries. Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, with 125 million inhabitants, and the fifth largest economy on the continent, with a higher than 6% growth in 2023. In addition, the nation joined the BRICS at the beginning of this year and the African Union, which has its headquarters in Addis Ababa, became a permanent member of the G20.
BILATERAL RELATIONS - Diplomatic relations between Brazil and Ethiopia were established in 1951. The two countries have already had joint initiatives focused on agricultural production techniques in semi-arid regions; sharing experiences in biofuels; small-scale agricultural irrigation; school feeding; basic sanitation and sustainable forest management. Today, there are five cooperation projects underway in the areas of agriculture and food security.
In business, trade flow between the two countries in 2023 amounted to US$23.8 million, mostly in Brazilian exports, especially of fuels, agricultural machinery and industrialized products. To expand on this, in December 2023 Brazil sent a business mission to Ethiopia, which included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, ApexBrasil and representatives from the Brazilian private sector.
- : Flower-laying ceremony at the Commemorative Museum of Adua in Ethiopia. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert / PR
FLOWERS - President Lula's first appointment of the day was at the Adua Memorial Museum, that honors the heroes of the Battle of Adua, which was the great victory of the then Ethiopian Empire against Italian forces in 1896. Lula was received by the mayor of Addis Ababa, Adanech Abebe, and by the Ethiopian Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide.
They have the slogan that Africa, which knows Africa, can provide solutions to Africa's problems. Africa has good experiences that add to the experiences of Brazil and the world’’
Wellington Dias,Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger
PARTNERSHIPS - President Lula's trip is accompanied by a delegation of ministers, with the mission of strengthening partnerships and agreements with African countries. According to Minister Wellington Dias (Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger), the visit is an opportunity to work at the same time with 54 countries attending the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
"We're talking about a continent that today has a GDP of around 3 trillion. Ethiopia, for example, has accumulated great growth in the planet after the pandemic. And there are also countries here that are more developed, less developed and which, from the very beginning, have been working with President Lula on the importance of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty," said the minister.
According to him, one of the objectives is to invite members of the African Union to preparatory meetings in various regions of Brazil to define the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty in the most consistent terms. "They have the slogan that Africa, which knows Africa, can provide solutions to Africa's problems. Africa has good experiences that add to the experiences of Brazil and the world, with a perspective of dealing with these two themes at the same time," said Dias.
GOOD PRACTICES - Another minister in the committee, Vinícius Marques de Carvalho, head of the Comptroller General's Office (Controladoria Geral da União – CGU), explained that one of the committee's intentions is to exchange good practices and experiences between Brazilian and African institutions in order to strengthen anti-corruption and integrity actions. The minister's agenda contemplates formalizing a memorandum of understanding with Cabo Verde's Council for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) for future actions in the areas of integrity, transparency and the combat against corruption, with a focus on building a socially just and economically sustainable global environment. "We want to exchange our experiences in the area of management. Things that we've done in Brazil that have worked and evaluations of policies that they might find interesting for them."