Ethiopia and Uganda have set up a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) aimed at fostering overall relations between the two countries.

The JMC was agreed on between Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in 2010.

The Ethiopian delegation led by Hailemariam Desalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed the agreement establishing the JMC and a Declaration on Strategic Partnership on July 22, in Kampala, Uganda.

The Ugandan delegation was led by Sam K. Kutesa, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

According to the communiqué released afterwards, the ministers exchanged view on wide range of issues including regional peace and security with emphasis on the situation in Somalia, the outstanding issues relating to Sudan and South Sudan, the fight against terrorism and the role of Eritrea.


“We have made considerable progress, but the challenge Somalia poses for our region and the continent at large remains centered on the activities of Al Shabaab, supported by various actors both in the region and beyond,” Hailemariam was quoted as saying by a Ugandan media.


“We need to expand our joint activities because the situation in Somalia still requires serious and close attention,” he said. “Somalia indeed would certainly be one of the issues that a strategic partnership would deal with”.


He also called for economic, political, and security cooperation in a regional context.



Source: http://www.waltainfo.com/