APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, is expected to arrive in Addis Ababa late on Monday for a three day official visit to Ethiopia.
According to the Palestinian embassy in Addis Ababa, the visit aims to consolidate the bonds of love and constructive cooperation between the two countries, enhancing bilateral cooperation, and open new horizons between the two countries, especially in the areas of investment, trade and agriculture.
“It will give an opportunity for the leaders to exchange views and consultations in regional and international issues of common concern. It also comes to mobilize support for diplomatic efforts exerted by President Mahmoud Abbas to put an end to the Arab - Israeli and Palestinian - Israeli conflict,” said the embassy.
It will be the first time when such high level Palestinian official is visiting Ethiopia.
It is also scheduled that the Palestinian President will hold official talks with the President of Ethiopia, Girma Wolde Giorgis, and with Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, on issues of mutual interest, latest developments in the peace process and “Israeli violations sustained against Islamic and Christian sanctities” in Palestine.
Abbas is also expected to lay down a foundation stone for the construction of a Palestine embassy in Ethiopia, for which the Ethiopian government has granted a free plot of land.
Palestine established diplomatic relations with Ethiopia by opening a consulate in Addis Ababa in the early 1970s.
DT/daj/APA
2010-07-05
