Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia to Pakistan Jemal Beker Abdula said thaEthiopia is looking forward to working with Pakistan on issues of climate change. He made these remarks in the context of the recent floods in Pakistan and said that Ethiopia understood the pain through which the people of Pakistan had to undergo because of these floods. He said, “we are ready to work with the government of Pakistan in areas of knowledge-sharing, ideas, best practices and innovations so that both countries can learn from each other and complement the other’s efforts to fight climate change.”

He was meeting with the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) and Minister of State Romina Khurshid Alam when he expressed his desire to ink agreements with Pakistan on climate change. The Ambassador told the Minister of the “Green Legacy Initiative,” which he said was the brainchild of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ali Ahmed.He said that the initiative had brought green revolution in the country through attitudinal, behavioural and cultural change.

“Under the Green Legacy Initiative, Ethiopia has planted some 25 billion saplings in the last four years to address climate change issues out of which 500 million are avocadoes, mangoes and papaya,” he added. He continued by saying that Pakistan had suffered losses worth billions of dollars which makes it important that the issue be approached with utmost seriousness. He said Pakistan needs to build a resilient economy and develop its infrastructure in a way that it can withstand future calamities.

Speaking of knowledge-sharing, he requested that the Minister arrange scholarships for Ethiopian students in Pakistani Universities to which the Romina Khurshid said that Government of Pakistan will do whatever it could to extend learning opportunities to the Ethiopian students. The ambassador informed Romina Khurshid about the business opportunities for Pakistani businessmen in Ethiopia and invited her to be part of the Pakistani business delegation flying to Ethiopia at the start of next year.

Romina Khurshid said that she will organize a conference for promoting connectivity between the African region and Pakistan. She invited Jemal Beker to the conference as well. Both officials agreed to promote the mutual interests of the two brotherly countries.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk