Ethiopia: Ireland’s Parliament delegation visit

A delegation of Ireland’s Parliament, aka Oireachtas, Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has been visiting Ethiopia this week.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported the visit, on its Nov. 18 press release, as follows:

An Irish Parliamentary visit

A delegation from the Irish Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has been on a five day visit to Ethiopia this week. It is headed by committee chair, Pat Breen from the Fine Gael party, and includes MPs from other parties as well as Senator Lorraine Higgins. The committee has responsibility for the parliamentary oversight of programmes run by Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas aid department. Irish Aid’s budget for aid to Ethiopia for 2011 amounts to Euros 25.7 million. Its visit will aim to assess the effectiveness of Irish development assistance to Ethiopia. One of the members noted that people had questions over the scale and effectiveness of aid programmes in the current economic climate and “there is a need to ensure monies are well spent.” During their visit the delegation met Prime Minister Meles and members of Ethiopia’s House of Representatives, officials, and opposition figures as well as representatives of Irish NGOs working in Ethiopia, among them Concern, Trocaire and Goal. The delegation will be visiting Tigrai Regional State where Irish Aid has been working since 1994 and also visit a refugee camp for people who have fled fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. Chairman, Pat Breen, noted that Ethiopia had made considerable progress in recent years, and the figures demonstrated the benefits of effective and strategic development policies, though he added that the country continued to face a number of challenges.

The news report by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) on the same day reads:

PM Meles hold talks with Ireland parliamentary delegation

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi here on Friday held talks with Ireland parliamentary delegation led by the president of joint committee on foreign affairs and trade, Pat Breen, on bilateral and regional issues.

The Prime Minister on the occasion said that Ethiopia is desirous to further boost the bilateral relation with Ireland.

He said there are many opportunities in Ethiopia, which will strengthen the trade and investment ties between the two countries, according to a high-level official, who attended the meeting.

Leader of the delegation, Pat Breen told journalists after the discussion that they discussed on ways to further boost trade exchange between the two countries.

He said the annual trade exchange between Ethiopia and Ireland accounts for 21 million Euros.

During their stay in Ethiopia, the delegation witnessed that Ethiopia is using the support obtained from Ireland for the right purpose, he said.

According to the leader of the delegation, Ireland provides up to 25 million Euros assistance to Ethiopia annually.

The Irish Times, on the other hand, reported, on Saturday:

Delegation has frank exchange on human rights with Ethiopia

A DELEGATION from the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee has had what it describes as a “very frank and open” exchange about Ethiopia’s human rights record during a meeting with the country’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, in Addis Ababa.

The committee has responsibility for parliamentary oversight of programmes run by Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas aid division.

The Irish Aid budget for Ethiopia for 2011 amounts to €25.7 million, making it one of the State’s biggest aid recipients.

The delegation was briefed by Human Rights Watch ahead of this week’s visit in relation to issues of concern, including allegations that aid was being used as political tool and the arrests of opposition figures and journalists under anti-terrorism laws which were passed last year.

Two Swedish journalists are currently on trial on charges of supporting a rebel group in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.

The delegation, which includes committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Pat Breen, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Fine Gael TD Dan Neville and Labour Senator Lorraine Higgins, also raised concerns yesterday over legislation which prevents local NGOs that get more than 10 per cent of their funding from abroad from working on issues including human rights.

Mr Breen said the Ethiopian prime minister was “fairly up front and frank” in his response.

“He did say that they were not a perfect government and acknowledged that they do make mistakes,” Mr Breen said, “but he was emphatic that they were striving to do their best in the interests of Ethiopia, which is a very poor country with little resources.”

The question of how to transform Ireland’s relationship with Ethiopia into one defined more by trade than aid was also discussed.

This approach is at the heart of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s new Africa strategy launched in September.

The delegation also raised the issue of forging a bilateral agreement on adoption in Ethiopia.