KUWAIT: For the
first time after seven months as head of mission, Ethiopia's envoy Abdulfatah
Abdullahi Hassan sat down for an interview with Kuwait Times. The new Ethiopian
ambassador to Kuwait presented his credentials to His Highness the Amir Sheikh
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Jan 22, 2019. The envoy said he is here to
make the life of every Ethiopian in Kuwait more vibrant, and wants further
cooperation and diplomatic and bilateral ties with Kuwait.

"I was
appointed by the newly-installed government of Ethiopia to assist our
compatriots and further strengthen our relationships in all aspects," he
said. The envoy said Kuwait and Ethiopia share a lot of common interests in
many areas including culture, trade and commerce, tourism and manpower, among
others. According to Hassan, Ethiopia and Kuwait have a long history of
cooperation since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1967.

"Our
diplomatic relations with Kuwait are very strong. We share lots of issues of
common interest. Ethiopia is strategically located in the African region, where
multinational companies thrive. Geopolitical issues are important for both
countries, and it is common knowledge to many that when it comes to
international issues, we share the same stands with Kuwait, such as in the
global affairs of the United Nations and Afro-Arab regional groupings," he
said.

According to
Hassan, bilateral relations are growing steadily and cordially. He also lauded
the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait for the stable political
and economic climate, not just in Kuwait but also in other GCC countries.
"We enjoyed the generosity of HH the Amir, especially when he financed
several infrastructure projects in Addis Ababa including the airport terminal,
which turned into reality through the Kuwait Fund," he said.

Fastest growing
economy in Africa

Ethiopia enjoys
being labeled as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa - second to
Nigeria - attributing the growth to the new and wise leadership of Ethiopian
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Sahle-Work Zewde. "We diversified
our economy and it's doing well now, thanks to several economic initiatives
initiated by our prime minister. We registered double-digit economic growth in
the last decade or so and we are still growing.

The World Bank
has commended Ethiopia for creating a large number of jobs and opportunities
for our people and for welcoming the largest foreign direct investment in the
country, thanks to several reforms implemented by the new government, not to
mention in the telecom sector. We have several industrial parks from which many
of our compatriots have benefitted. We have several international brands that
consider Ethiopia as their second home," Hassan said.

Kuwaiti investors
to Ethiopia are also growing, from none in the 1970s to around 21 new licensed
investors in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. "We want to
attract more Kuwaiti investment to our market. Ethiopia is now very
competitive; the good news is that our manpower can attract more and more
employers than ever before, because they are now being trained and prepared for
the job market," he added.

The volume of
trade between two countries has been increasing as well, despite the fact that
there is no trade protocol between the two countries. "Before the 1970s,
the trade relationship with Kuwait and the balance of trade was in favor of
Ethiopia. Recently, however, the situation has changed - the balance of trade
is now in favor of Kuwait. For example, bilateral trade in 2014 totaled $945
million, with only $2.86 million for Ethiopia against $942 million for Kuwait.
We import 100 percent of our oil and gas products from Kuwait. Ethiopia sends
first-class coffee and livestock products to Kuwait. There is a huge disparity,
and we hope to balance our trade in the coming years," Hassan said.

Wooing Kuwaiti
tourists

Ethiopia is also
trying to attract Kuwaiti visitors with its new tourism slogan 'Land of
Origins' and emphasizing the physical proximity of Ethiopia to Kuwait. Hassan
said the country is rich in natural resources; the climate is cool with an
average temperature of 22-25 degrees Celsius throughout the year.
"Geographically speaking, we are 3.5 hours away from Kuwait. Our country
has been known even before the ancient and biblical eras. We have the best and
most fantastic sceneries, plus several UNESCO natural and cultural world
heritage sites. We are also known as the cradle of humanity, as we are
considered the very first ancient civilization in the world," he said.

"We are a
country that embraces all cultures and religions, and we are also proud that we
were never colonized by anyone. We refused being colonized - in fact we have a
victory celebration every 6th of April to commemorate the bravery of our
ancestors when the Italians tried to invade and failed," Hassan said. He
said Kuwaitis can visit Ethiopia with visa on arrival. Addis Ababa also has
regular flights to and from Kuwait daily.

Kuwait Times
asked if the Kuwaiti market is open for Ethiopian domestic helpers. "Not
yet - we are waiting and renegotiating with Kuwaiti authorities. In the near
future, perhaps. We also need to train and update our people and hope we can
come up with a bilateral agreement similar to that signed by the Philippines
and Kuwait. But I want to stress our workforce can provide the best manpower
ever - we are training our people so that when they are deployed, they are
ready and more competitive.

We want Kuwait to
know that Ethiopia is also open to sending skilled and semi-skilled workers and
not just those in the domestic labor sector," Hassan said. Ethiopians in
Kuwait number around 30-35,000 - around 90 percent of them engaged in domestic
work. Some are engineers, while the rest are in the hospitality business.

By Ben Garcia