ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome on Wednesday hailed his country's strategic partnership with Italy and called for further strengthening partnership between the two countries.
According to Teshome, the ever growing bilateral relations between Ethiopia and Italy are manifested through the increased volume of trade and the growing investment interest of giant Italian companies to Ethiopia.
He also mentioned the recent soft loan agreement of 125 million Euros to support industrial parks development in the east African country as one major manifestation of the growing relations among the two countries.
Teshome, however, indicated that economic and cultural cooperation is among the areas that need to be enhanced.
The president made the remarks during his discussions with Giuseppe Mistretta, Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia, who vowed to continue to support the synergy in the excellent bilateral cooperation between his country and Ethiopia.
The two officials have also discussed about the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in which the two countries are presently co-chairing the IGAD partnership Forum, according to the office of the Ethiopian president.
The discussion also revolves around the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which the two countries are member states and Ethiopia, in particular, is currently serving as president for the month of September, it was indicated.
Ethiopia and Italy had previously staged two dominant wars prior and during the Italian invasion of the East African country during the later days of the 19th century and mid of the 20th century, respectively. The two wars resulted in the death of huge number of people from both sides.
The relationship among the two countries, however, witnessed remarkable progress in the aftermath of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia.
