[ETH] Message to the Netherlands

[Naio90]

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ Message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade _________________________________________________________________________​

Status: Private To: Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Dutchy Re: Bilateral relations​

Dear Secretary, On behalf of Prime Minister Abyi Ahmed and our Government, I would like to extend you our highest regards. As you might have heard, our new foreign policy pursues a strong integration into the global market, which is obviously closelylinked to our diplomatic relation with the rest of the world. We understand that without those, our nation's ultimate goal of progress is severely hindered.​ ​ As such, and recognizing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a major global player, we would like to request a meeting between our ambassador to the Netherlands and a representative of your minsitry to try identify areas of mutual interest and cooperation, as well as to introduce some key aspects of our foreign agenda. ​ Respectfully,​ Demeke Mekonnen Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Addis Ababa​

 

[Dutchy]

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kingdom of the Netherlands​

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Recipient: Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Naio90)
Cc: -
Subject: Bilateral Relations
Attachment:
Classification: CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Minister,

I am honoured to receive your communication. My government is eager to expand our network of friendly states with which we can form ties of mutual cooperation. We have yet to have the chance to reach out to the African continent so we are excited to host your Ambassador for talks.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is currently unavailable, however I invite your ambassador to meet with myself so we can begin exploratory talks for future cooperation. If availble then I invite your Ambassador to my office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the coming days while my schedule remains clear.

Yours Sincerely,

Agnes van Ardenne
Minister for Development Cooperation

 

[Naio90]

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ Message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade _________________________________________________________________________​

Status: Private To: Agnes van Ardenne, Minister for Development Cooperation Dutchy Re: Bilateral relations​

Dear Minister van Ardenne,​ We thank you for your quick reply. We have recently appointed Ambassador Selassie Addis as our Ambassador in The Hague, and expect her to be ready for the proposed bilateral meeting with yourself at your earliest convenience.​ We think that such a meeting might be a more convenient and flexible environment to set the grounds for the new ethiopian-dutch bilateral relation on diplomatic and commercial levels.​ ​ Respectfully, Demeke Mekonnen Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Addis Ababa​

 

[Dutchy]

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kingdom of the Netherlands​

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Recipient: Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Naio90)
Cc: -
Subject: Bilateral Relations
Attachment:
Classification: CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Minister,

The Ambassador is welcome to meet with myself tomorrow afternoon at 13:15. The meeting will take place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in The Hague. Upon their arrival they can inform the report to the reception desk.

I look forward to the discussions and hope that in the near future we ourselves may be able to meet to hopefully go beyond exploratory talks and delve into areas of deeper cooperation.

Yours Sincerely,

Agnes van Ardenne
Minister for Development Cooperation

 

[Naio90]

After informing the Area Director for Europe and other related ministry personnel, preparations would be made in the form of instructions and reports for Ambassador Addis and her audience with the Minister for Development Cooperation in the Netherlands.

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After being briefed and ready, the Ambassador would take the official embassy car to the indicated place and arrive 15 minutes before the established time to give herself some time in case anything would come up. The Ambassador would be accompanied by the Deputy Head of Mission and another lower ranked diplomat as notetaker.

Once at the Ministry, the small group of ethiopians would annoucne themselves.

Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

Once the Ethiopian delegation announced their arrival at the reception desk, the receptionists would quickly go to work registering their names into the system and handing them visitor badges which they would be required to carry for the duration of their visit. An escort would also appear who would first guide them through security where they were asked to place any bag that was not clearly marked as a diplomatic pouch (and therefore protected by the Vienna Convention) on the conveyor belt for the x-ray machine, all metallic items would also have to be placed in a basket so that the delegation could pass through a metal detector.

Once everyone was cleared an no illicit items had passed through security, the group would be guided to a large elevator which would take them up to the level where the talks were scheduled to be held. The conference room had been decorated with official Dutch and Ethiopian flags on each side of the conference table to designate the parties. A tray with glasses and a decanter of water was also placed upon either end.

The Minister was already present as the delegation enetered to room and she stepped forward to greet them. "Ambassador, welcome. I am Minister Agnes van Ardenne and my colleague here is Jozef Antonis our Director for Sub-Saharan Africa." Once the round of greetings had completed, the Minister and Director would take their place opposite of the Ethiopian delegation. "Ambassador, shall we begin by setting an agenda for today's discussions?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

The ethiopians would follow the instructions from the security staff and follow the staff to the indicated conference room, where they would meet Minister Agnes van Ardenne. The Ambassador would take the lead.​

​

"Minister van Ardenne, Director Antonis, It is a pleasure to be here today, let me introduce my colleagues from the Embassy, Deputy Head of Mission Kayle Assise and Secretary Tokando Bajo."​

​

Assise and Bajo would politely greet the dutch. Afterwards, each would take their spot at the table. The Ambassador would continue.​

​

"It is really a honor for me and my team to be able to serve Ethiopia in your beautiful country and be part of this process of bringing our cultures closer. We understand that in terms of bilateral relations, both in recent and historic times it was not a very active link, something my Government would like to change given the potential that exists.​

​

We prepared a few items we wanted to address, but feel free to suggest any changes."​

​

The ethiopian diplomat would hand the dutch representatives a copy of a draft agenda they prepared. Which would read as follows:​

- Foreign Policy introduction (Netherlands)
- Foreign Policy introduction (Ethiopia)
- Trade, Commerce and Investments
- General Assembly

 

[Naio90]

Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

The Minister gladly received the copy of the agenda and took a brief moment to glance at the four points. "This is acceptable. Perhaps we might come across some more points throughout our discussion."

"I believe I am to begin then. At this moment Dutch foreign policy efforts are primarily aimed at regional cooperation in Europe. The lack of institutions which allow for dialogue and cooperation concerns us. As the world has become more volatile we believe these institutions are key to peace, security, and prosperity. In concrete terms this means that we are exploring options at establishing institutions for common dialogue with fellow European states and we are reaching out to test the waters and see whether governments are receptive to this idea. Furthermore, we are always looking to expand our diplomatic network and foster ties with nations across the globe, we believe it is only together that we can truly bring about a more prosperous world."

She turned her gaze towards Jozef, "I believe our Director for Sub-Saharan Africa could expand upon our efforts in Africa." Antonis cleared his throat before speaking, "At this time we are primarily looking to establish a diplomatic footing in the region, we have yet to fully engage with the countries and are glad that you have reached out. Our aims are to foster trade relations and provide technical assistance alongside development aid. At this time there are no active programmes, though we do hope to get them of the ground by the end of the year."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

After the Dutch diplomats finished their presentation, the Ambassador would shuffle some papers and then speak.

​

"Thank you for this summary, it is really interesting to hear that the Netherlands are working on a long term diplomatic project such as your proposed superstructure of institutions in Europe. At first it would not look that difficult do to the more or less cohesive foreign policies european nations possess and their common culture and history, much easier to implement than in very heterogenic regions such as perhaps our Africa or Asia. But yes, I can also imagine there is a big wall of bureaucracy and small bilateral adjustments that need to be taken for such plans to thrive.​

​

As for the potential "gateway" to Africa, Ethiopia would indeed be interested in looking for some mutually beneficial ideas that could enable the Kingdom of the Netherlands to increase it diplomatic and commercial presence in the continent. We did have some brief exchange with the Kingdom of Italy recently, but it is certainly The Hague the nation who expressed the most interest in being one of our main european partners.​

​

Let me continue now with a brief description of our foreign policy.​

​

Ethiopia has long suffered from social and political instability, fueled sometimes by internal conflicts but also having periods of strong negative impact from foreign elements. This overall made it impossible for former governments of my nation to efficiently run the nation and resulted in struggling with managing even the scarce resources that were available to them. Obviously this had a marked negative impact in our society and the wellbeing of our people.​

​

Prime Minister's Ahmed campaign was centered around that. It is imperative to develop economically in order to provide a better future to our people, and we are putting the whole Government structure towards achieving this goal. In this framework, foreign affairs is key. We live today in a highly interconnected world and it is unthinkable to aspire for long term sustainable development without being part of the international market. We are therefore currently looking to increase the amount and quality of our trade partners abroad, both for exports and imports. But this is not only limited to the trade of physical goods.​

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We have also launched a wide reaching campaign to promote Ethiopia as one of the prime tourist destinations in Africa, and are heavily investing in improving our tourism infrastructure and services.​

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Linked to this is also the complete overhaul and modernization of Ethiopian Airways, through the expansion of Bore International Airport, its main hub, and the acquisition of a brand new fleet of short, medium and long range aircraft that will be able to exploit our prime geographic location as the "nexus" between the west and east.​

​

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On more political matters, we are resolved in sitting down with the Government of Eritrea and discuss the drawing of the definitive borders between both of our nations. While we currently recognize their independence, the borders and exact territories each occupies are not yet defined and as long as this persists, we will not be able to pursue our goals.”​

Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

"I am glad to hear that the policies of your Prime Minister, and by extension your government, aim to offer stability and prosperity for the Ethiopian people. The Netherlands stands prepared to assist in capacities where our expertise may be of use, though we recognise the strength and determination of your peoples as they work together to a brighter future."

"In the medium term, perhaps to encourage tourism we can establish a working group to explore the possibilities of relaxing the visa regimes currently in place to allow for an increase in tourism. Ethiphia is rich with history which I am certain many Dutch citizens will be eager to explore. You also mention Ethiophian Airways, is this a state-owned corporation? And will it be looking to expand its routes into Europe and perhaps Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and airport which for its long history has established itself as a hub between America and Asia, though could also become a nexus for Ethiopian Airways to attract new passengers from all over the world."

"I hope that your government may be able to keep our embassy in Addis Ababa informed on the development of the talks with the Eritrean government. We have witnessed how quickly things can escalate with the conflict in South East Asia, so we hope that your discussions will proceed carefully to avoid escalation."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"We are aware that it will not be easy... and cheap. The money we are investing in this process is significant and we have to prioritize, but we are confident it will pay out on the long term.

The service industry, including tourism, is key for us and it would be a significant help to have bilateral agreements with nations such as the Netherlands who account for an important percentage in global tourism travellers.

As it stands, Ethiopian Aiways is currently privately owned but has strong ties with the state as it receives multiple subsidies, benefits from state-sponsored infrastructure projects and also received on-loan aircraft to be operated by them. Actually one of the points we wanted to discuss is, once we receive the corresponding units, the possibility to establish a direct flight between Amsterdam Schiphol and Addis Ababa Bore International, this would add up with your proposed potential tourist visa facilitation.

As for Eritrea, while we are determined to settle this in a way that it does not negatively impact our growing opportunities and cuts us out of the international trade market, we are aware of the potential tensions some nations might see here, specially looking at recent events around the globe. Rest assured that the least thing we want is for this to escalate. We are confident in finding a diplomatic solution and are willing to offer equally beneficial terms to Eritrea, also giving them the opportunity to make economically convenient gains on the long term. Ethiopia will benefit from having stable and growing neighbours with whom we can trade.

A context of war and conflict is never good for commerce and growth."

Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

"I am happy to inform the Ministry of Economic Affairs about Ethiophian Airways interest in establishing a route between Amsterdam and Addis Ababa, I am certain that they will be able to facilitate this objective and assist with any bureaucratic hurdles that may arise."

"We certainly support any initiative that will result in increasing stability in the region to foster economic growth and social prosperity. On that topic, you mentioned in the agenda that you were looking to discuss the topic of trade, commerce, and investment. Was there anything specific that you had in mind?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"The mere fact of settling the definitive border between Ethiopia and Eritrea will remove another source of conflict from the african continent and make it easier for both of our nations to thrive, since with the normalization of the bilateral relation we can start trading and integrating our economies, with the benefits for both sides. ​

​

Moving on to the next agenda topic, investments, among the many big infrastructure project my Government is currently developing, there are many dedicated to gaining energy sovereignty, meaning the fact that we produce all required electricity for our homes and industry within Ethiopia and even aim at having a surplus of production big enough to eventually export to our close neighbor and boost their growths though cheap and accessible energy. Now, all of those new energy-related projects are based on renewable sources, mainly hydroelectricity. Although my nation does have experience in said type of generation, we are looking for international partners to develop other alternative sources like solar and wind energy farms. ​

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Dutch companies like Groenleven in solar and Lagerwey in wind have proven in the past to be on the forefront of technology and R&D in their respective areas and we would be very interested in reaching an agreement with them to develop and implement their know-how in Ethiopia.​

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Furthermore, once we settle the border issue with Eritrea and we can secure access to the international sea trade market, we will need to develop a whole new commercial port and merchant fleet, areas in which your nation has an unquestionable lead."​

​

Dutchy​

 

[Dutchy]

"I believe that it might prove beneficial to explore the establishment of a joint Chamber of Commere or Business Council. There would be many businesses interested in seeking joint ventures with Ethiopian corporations."

"The Damen Group would present a suitable supplier for any merchant fleet you may seek to obtain." The Director for Sub-Saharan Africa cleared his throat as he glanced towards a large map which decorated the wall of the conference room, "When you refer to the securing of access to the international sea trade, is it your governments intention to secure a port during the negotiations with Eritrea?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"The establishment of a joint committee to seek and facilitate potential bilatera ventures is a fabulous idea and would also make the search for partners much easier.

As for the situation with the access to the sea, historically Eritrea was part of Ethiopia. Due to social, cultural and religious conflicts a civil war erupted during the 70s and 80s, which through guerilla warfare forced the de facto separation of the territory nowaways known as Eritrea. In our efforts to stabilize the situation, in the mid 90s Ethiopia recognized the independence of Eritrea, however, the official delimitation of the broders and territories was never settled and nowadays Eritrea claims land controlled by us, and we do the same on segments of their land. This issue obviously generated a divide and the impossibility to build mutual trust.

As said before, my Government is willing to solve this issue diplomatically and with benefits for both nations. Ethiopia cannot become a landlocked country, if so, not only would our economy be severely affected but we would also become the biggest nation worldwide in terms of population in being cut out of access to the sea.

Details have yet to be refined, but the intention from our part is to negotiate with Eritrea a territory swap that will give us access to the ocean through the "Southern Red Sea" territory. The area is economically unproductive and scarcely inhabitated due to it being mostly wasteland desert, but will serve us well enough to build a big commercial port. Aside of the territory swap, we would also be willing to give monetary compensation and access rights to the eritrean government, but such things will be look at in more detail when the time of bilateral talks comes."

Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

"I shall inform the Ministry of Economic Affairs to begin work on such a council and have ask them to reach out once enough progress has been made to establish a working group," the Minister would respond. "I would kindly request that you keep our mission in Addis Ababa informed of any developments in regards to your talks with Eritrea. We would be willing to facilitate any talks or mediation if so required, though we are confident of both your nations capabilities to come to a mutually beneficial conclusion."

"Is there anything else you wished to discuss on the topic of trade, commerce and investments?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Thank you for your offer. Indeed the Netherlands have a highly regarded reputation and your nation has not been involved in any foreign conflict in recent times. Although this has to be resolved further up the command chain, I have been cleared to tell you that one possible scenario was to eventually ask for your nation to take part in the negotiations as observer or facilitator.

Going back some minutes, I was just informed..." The Ambassador would briefly look at his aide, who just passed her a small note. "... that Ethiopian Airlines has given green light to advance with the talks regarding a daily flight between Addis Ababa and Amsterdam. If you consider this pertiennt, we would like for that route to be our inaugural european route."

Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

"While I am certain that we could act in the capacity of an observer, it will require further consultation, between yourself and the Eritrean government, before we could take any role of facilitator or mediator. However, this is an issue for the near future, and you or your government may reach out to us at any time to discuss this issue further."

"We could discuss the basics of the establishment of such a route, however it does fall under the competences of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, so neither I or Director Antonis have the necessary expertise to complete such a deal. So if you’d prefer, this could be discussed once the Ministry of Economic Affairs reaches out to your relevant authority to discuss the economic points we have spoken about today."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Our Governments goal is to formally extend the invitation to the Government of Eritrea as soon as we manage to explain the issue on an international level as for every major nation to be aware of de tails and implications of this negotiation and address any potential question or remark on it. Solving this issue will allow us to continue with matters such as a comprehensive reformation of our constitution to better suit the characteristics of the 21st century.

Also, we added the air route request to the list of documents and proposals to be discussed with the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Moving on with the agenda, would you like us to talk a little bit about the GA?"

Dutchy