Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has held talks in Addis Ababa with Baroness Valerie Amos, the Leader of the House of Lords and the UK government’s International Development spokesperson in the Lords. The meeting, which took place yesterday, focused on the work of the Commission for Africa, which is working to use the coincidence of the UK’s chairmanship of both the G8 and the European Union in 2005 as an opportunity to make a difference for Africa.

Prime Minister Meles and Baroness Amos exchanged views on the issues that are to be discussed at the next meeting of the Commission, which is due to convene later this month in Britain – the last meeting before its report is published in March. They also talked about the need for more attention to be focused on Africa, the financial assistance required to help the continent out of poverty and the recommendations the Commission could put forward regarding Africa’s place in international trade.

Baroness Amos, who previously visited Ethiopia in December 2001 as the then Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs in June 2001 with responsibility for Africa, has also visited various aid projects in the country. These included the CAFOD-funded Watershed Agricultural Programme in Tigray, which has helped around 100,000 people become self-sufficient through better farming methods and improved irrigation and an HIV/AIDS project run by the Daughters of Charity.

Baroness Amos will also be meeting with other officials from the government and the African Union during her stay.

ENDS