Ethiopia PM heads to Israel on official visit

31 August، 2019

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is expected in Israel on Sunday for an official state visit, the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed.

“Israel welcomes the visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, to which it attaches great importance as it will contribute to the enhancement of the relationship and strengthen the cooperation between the two countries,” the Ministry statement read in part.

As part of his engagements, he is set to meet his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu with both sides expected to hold talks to bolster existing bilateral relations.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will receive Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed upon his arrival on Sunday (1 September 2019) with a guard of honor at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

During the course of the visit, the Ethiopian Prime Minister will meet with PM Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, visit Yad Vashem and tour the National Cyber Directorate.

According to the statement, Ethiopia is a central African state, with which Israel has a close and friendly relationship and cooperation in many fields including agriculture, water and irrigation, health, education, science, technology and innovation.

During the visit the two sides will discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, agriculture and technology, with special emphasis on cyber.

Israel becomes his third destination in the last week.Prime Minister Abiy has been in South Korea for an official visit before he flew to Yokohama in Japan where he joined other African leaders for the Tokyo International Conference for African Development, TICAD.