Ethiopia and Somalia have agreed to strengthen bilateral relations across mutual priority cooperation areas.
This came during the official state visit by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to Ethiopia from Sept. 28-29, when he held discussions with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The two leaders agreed to work on specific priorities while considering the need to focus on key common issues paramount to the relationship between the two countries, according to a joint communique issued Friday.
The two leaders agreed to nurture and strengthen the longstanding bilateral ties between the two countries and peoples based on respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of both countries, read the joint communique.
They reiterated their resolve to effectively collaborate in the fight against their common enemy, terrorism and extremism, and directed their respective security agencies to strengthen existing mechanisms of cooperation and agreed to exchange intelligence. They applaud the recent successful offensive by the Somali National Army (SNA) against al-Shabab in the regions of Hiiraan and Galmudug.
The two leaders further called upon the UN Security Council to consider the request of the Federal Governments of Somalia for the lifting of the arms embargo imposed on the country for more than 30 years to ensure that Somalia is sufficiently equipped to effectively address the security threat posed by al-Shabab. They emphasized the need to work together, minimize the effects of undue external interferences that could potentially undermine their joint effort for peace and stability in the region and effectively combat terrorism.
“To this effect, we have agreed to hold regular bilateral consultations and to collaborate in multilateral and regional forums to promote our common national interests on the basis of mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries,” the joint communique read.
The leaders noted that the two countries and the sub-region at large are facing recurrent drought and other multifaceted natural disasters induced by climate change, threatening the livelihoods of the peoples of the region.
They emphasized the imperative to collaborate and the need to redouble efforts to overcome the challenges as they also called upon international partners to continue to support affected communities including in the area of building long-term livelihood resilience.
The two leaders further emphasized the importance of expanding cooperation in the areas of trade, economy and infrastructure as well as communications in addition to the well-established political and security collaborations, according to the joint communique. Enditem
