Dr. Tedros Meets the Ethiopian Artists

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Foreign Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, met with artists and other stakeholders from the Ethiopian National Theatre on Monday (February 3) to discuss the progress of public diplomacy progress and national image building through the use of art and creativity.

Dr. Tedros welcomed the initiative of the participants to help the public diplomacy sector and national image building process. He gave details of the efforts made by the Government to enhance the image of Ethiopia, and emphasized that public diplomacy and image building could be realized only through the efforts of all stakeholders: artists, universities, and prominent individuals as well as government and the public sector.

He noted that music, drama, film, theatre and literature had great power to impact, even make or break foreign relations between countries. He called up on all stakeholders to work in cooperation with government to create a brand new image of Ethiopia and help realize the Ethiopian Renaissance. Culture and Tourism Minister, Amin Abdulkadir, also stressed that art was one of the most important tools to realize development, democracy, good governance and the country’s renaissance.

He noted that Ethiopian artists had been working to build a national consensus on different issues including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project and other elements of the national agenda. Participants in the meeting suggested a number of different ideas on how to enhance and build the image of Ethiopia including an African annual festival in Ethiopia and an African art award, provision of tourist certificates, translations of Ethiopian artistic work in drama, poetry, literature and films into other languages and working with well-known and prominent individuals.

They also underlined the importance of capacity building training and other supports for artistic activity.

Source: ethiopia.gov.et