Josep Borrell visit the IOM Transit Centre in Ethiopia with Minister for Foreign Affairs Tsion Teklu

HR/VP Josep Borrell and EU Commissioner Janez Lenarčič to visit Ethiopia. Meeting with SRS Regional President and Regional government - National Disaster Risk Management Commission.

IOM Ethiopia's Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) team celebrates today with patients and artists at Amanuel hospital in Addis Ababa and with the Government of #Ethiopia in different regions.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell and EU Commissioner Janez Lenarčič will be travelling to Ethiopia on Thursday, 8 October 2020. The visit focusses on both Ethiopia and the African Union and is a testimony of the close EU cooperation with both on the many topics of common interest.

Stressing the strong partnership between ‘Team Europe’ and the African Union in response to COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union is sending a Humanitarian Air Bridge flight to Ethiopia delivering 7.5 tons of coronavirus testing kits to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. They are part of third batch of the overall 1.4 million test kits delivered.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell and EU Commissioner Janez Lenarčič will take part in a handover ceremony at the Bole International Airport.

Following the handover ceremony, they will continue their visit, meeting Chairperson Moussa Faki and other interlocutors of the African Union, to discuss the AU-EU Partnership and the upcoming Summit of 2021, as well as with the Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other members of the government, to discuss EU-Ethiopia relations.

The trip will continue in the Somali region, with a visit to a refugee camp in Qoloji and a nutrition project in Jijiga, supported by ECHO, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Team Europe

In April 2020, the EU launched the ‘Team Europe’ package to support partner countries in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. The objective of ‘Team Europe’ approach is to combine resources from the EU, its Member States, and financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

‘Team Europe’ support to the AU Joint Strategy for COVID-19 Outbreak amounts to over 26 million EUR with contributions from the EU, Germany, Austria, Spain and Sweden.

High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell, and Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič are on an official visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 8-9 October 2020. The mission aims to keep up the momentum of a strengthened EU-AU partnership and coincides with a new delivery of 7.5 tons of coronavirus testing kits donated by Germany as part of ‘Team Europe' efforts to help partners to deal with the pandemic.

EU Humanitarian Air Bridge

The High Representative and the Commissioner participated this morning in a handover ceremony delivering 7.5 tons of coronavirus testing kits to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. In total, the EU has made available almost 1.4 million tests for the extraction and the detection of the virus to African countries.

EU-Africa Partnership

The EU and its Member States are Africa's first partner in trade, economic and development cooperation, providing €25 billion in 2018, representing 58% of the total Official Development Assistance to Africa. In 2019, 30.7 % of Africa's trade in goods took place with the EU. The coronavirus pandemic has further demonstrated the need for a strong EU-Africa partnership to tackle the global threats that both our continents face.

In the Joint Communication of 9 March, Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa and the Council Conclusions on Africa of 30 June, the EU laid out some of its priorities and aspirations for the future of our continent-to-continent partnership. The upcoming EU-African Union Summit, planned for 2021, will be a milestone on the path to take our partnership to the next level.

During his visit, the High Representative and the Commissioner will meet Prime Minister Abyi to discuss the scope of the EU's and Ethiopia's bilateral cooperation as well as Ethiopia's current political situation. They will also meet President Sahle-Work and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gedu.