Harare, Addis eye ‘twin city’ status to boost historical ties

ETHIOPIA has hailed its relationship with Zimbabwe and is seeking to further strengthen ties through promoting cooperation between institutions and cities in the two countries.

The country’s ambassador Mr Mustafe Dek Abdisalam said Zimbabwe was one of his country’s closest allies, hence the need to explore areas in which the two countries could further cooperate.

The ambassador was speaking after paying a courtesy call on Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni.

“There are a lot of technical issues which technical people can talk about; Zimbabwe being a sister country and one of the closest allies we have in Africa. We have enjoyed very good relations at political level but we need to let our institutions and cities share the same relations,” he said.

“This is the purpose of diplomacy, it is about economic diplomacy and public diplomacy. We discussed the twinning programme between Harare and Addis. I inquired from His Worship (Mayor Manyenyeni) how we can speed up the programme.

Cllr Manyenyeni said Government had rejected the twinning arrangement between the two cities.

“We are trying to see if we are going to call the Mayor of Addis himself to come here so that we can unlock the current impasse. Just about every problem we have in Harare they have it and they have a solution,” he said.

“For example, their public transport and housing. It’s a bigger and attractive destination for foreign direct investment and tourists. We share a lot of political intimacy which dates back to the days of the liberation struggle.”

He said the two countries have a lot in common and both economies are driven by agriculture. “The belated agreement with Addis will open our eyes to where Harare can be. They have a Vision 2030 which is already on target we have a Vision 2025 which is currently challenged so those are the copy and paste options that agreement with Addis will present to the people of the city,” Clr Manyenyeni said.