The Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK His Excellency Ambassador Dr Hailemichael Afework Aberra, along with seven colleagues from the Ethiopian Embassy in London, visited the Paisley Campus on Monday 6^th March. This was the Ambassador’s first official visit to Scotland since becoming the Ambassador in 2016. The three day visit involved visiting a number of Scottish universities to discuss a range of collaborations in research, university administration and quality assurance.

The delegation also visited a range of key business stakeholders such as the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Scottish Council for Development and Industry, African Forum Scotland, as well as the LINK Community Development organisation in Edinburgh who work extensively in the area of girls education in Ethiopia. The delegation met with Dr Alistair Allan, Minister for Europe and International Development in the Scottish Government. The delegation also met with a number of the Ethiopian diaspora living in Scotland.

Good discussions were held with a variety of UWS colleagues across a range of academic Schools and some areas for collaboration were identified in the STEM subjects as well as Health, Sport and Entrepreneurship.

The visit was organised by the University’s Professor John Struthers, Director of our Centre for African Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED), who is also the Honorary Consul for Ethiopia in Scotland.

Professor Struthers said:

“It was a great honour to arrange the visit of H.E. Ambassador Dr Hailemichael Aberra and his Embassy colleagues during these three days. Reflecting the tremendous progress that the Ethiopian economy has made in recent years, along with major infrastructural projects in transport, education and health, paves the way for fruitful collaboration between Scottish universities and companies across a range of different sectors.

From this very intensive and fruitful visit our intention is to arrange an investment forum in Scotland to which universities, companies and other stakeholders will be invited. This may then lead to a Trade and Investment mission to Ethiopia in which Scottish universities can also be involved.”

The importance of the visit was reflected in the production of a video recording across the three days in Scotland which will appear on Ethiopian Television. The Ambassador also expressed his appreciation to the University and to Professor Craig Mahoney for hosting a dinner for the delegation along with senior UWS staff.

Source: University of the West of Scotland