Speech at a Dinner hosted by His Excellency the President of the Region of Tigray, H.E. Abay Woldu
Planet Hotel, Tigray, Ethiopia, 6th November 2014
Your Excellency, the President of the Region of Tigray,
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to begin by thanking you, Your Excellency, for the warm welcome you have extended today to me, to my wife Sabina, and to our delegation, including our Minister of State for Development, Trade Promotion and North-South Co-operation, Seán Sherlock T.D. I also want to thank you for the generous hospitality you have afforded us. It is greatly appreciated. Yekeniyeley, thank you, Mr. President.
I have been looking forward to my visit to Ethiopia for some time and I have always anticipated that my visit to Tigray would be a highlight. But the welcome you and the people of Tigray have extended to me has surpassed expectations.
This year we are celebrating twenty years of uninterrupted co-operation between Ireland and Tigray. Over the course of those twenty years we have witnessed a remarkable transformation in this region’s fortunes. The progress we have made together should come as no surprise. Over the past twenty years a natural affinity has developed and flourished between our respective peoples. There are many things we have in common, including the parallel between old rural Ireland and the daily lives of those working the land in Tigray nowadays, which creates a profound and instinctive connection between our peoples.
This afternoon, Sabina and I were delighted to visit the Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, and I know, Mr President, that we both rejoice in the fruitful cooperation underway between Ireland and Tigray, to develop new technologies to further agricultural production and the optimisation of land use in this region.
Tomorrow I will be visiting the Gergera watershed, where new management techniques, pioneered by Irish Aid and the regional Government, have turned a desolate landscape into a productive valley supporting thousands of families. Such was the success of the lessons learned there that they have been replicated not just here in Tigray but across all of Ethiopia and have become, in due course, a central feature of the federal Productive Safety Nets Programme. It is an achievement of which we can be jointly proud; a shared success and an inspiring example of Tigray leading the way for the rest of your country.
The work, of course, continues and this year, for example, I am pleased that you will plant three million trees, build six maternal and child health facilities and renovate another five. However, after twenty years of successful partnership it is timely to reflect on where we will be in another two decades.
Ireland’s commitment to Tigray and our fruitful relationship will, I am sure, endure. We know, however, that the global community is changing, and that Tigray and Ireland must remain creative and imaginative as we work together towards further achievements. I am confident that the great spirit of partnership that exists between our two peoples will continue to inspire that work.
Tonight, you have made us very welcome and we are extremely grateful to you for the warmth with which you have received us. This is something of a second homecoming for Sabina and me. Sabina’s sister, Margaret, worked for twenty years with the Daughters of Charity here in Mekelle and it was a privilege to meet her sisters at the Eye Clinic this afternoon. Like Fromentius, we already feel the need to come back!
Indeed, on a personal, professional and political level we feel a deep sense of connection. Ours is a solid, people-to-people partnership. My visit to Tigray has already given me great hope for the future and I have no doubt that our strong affiliation will endure, for the next twenty years and beyond.
Thank you very much for your hospitality, Mr President. Or, in our ancient Irish language: Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.