The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia has started a press conference on current diplomatic issues.
The spokesperson of the ministry, Ambassador Meles Alem, made a press briefing on diplomatic and current issues.
The spokesperson explained that there was a dispute regarding the payment of a loan that Ethiopia owes to the African Development Bank.
The dispute is between the Ministry of Finance of Ethiopia and African Development Bank Addis Ababa office.
What is the conflict between the two entities? Has the Bank closed the Ethiopian office? A question was raised to Ambassador Meles from journalists.
Ambassador Meles said, “The incident that happened with the African Development Bank’s Ethiopian office did not cause the bank to close the office, and the relationship between the two is not severed.”
The African Development Bank, on the other hand, announced that two employees of the bank in Ethiopia were arrested and tortured by the Ethiopian government security forces.
The bank also stated that it does not accept the abuse of the arrest of two of its employees and discussing the matter with the Ethiopian government.
Another issue that the spokesperson explained is that the International Center for Black People has its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia being a non-colonial country, helping anti-colonial struggles, supporting the establishment of international institutions where the voiced black people and other issues are the main reasons for the center to make Addis Ababa ahe capital city.
Ambassador Meles added that diplomats, friends of Ethiopia, and the diaspora worked to persuade the Center to choose Addis Ababa as the capital city.
Addis Ababa being the headquarters of the International Black People’s Center will increase the visibility of Ethiopia by increasing the number of visitors and also the economic benefits will be high.
Since last November 2022, the Global South Cooperation has chosen Addis Ababa as its headquarters.
