Sudanese Media Delegation Concludes Visit to Ethiopia and GERD

Ethiopian Prime Minister briefs Sudanese journalists on bilateral relations and Ethiopian economy

Sudanese media delegation concluded working visit to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), they also met the Ethiopian Prime Minister Mr. Hailemariam Dessalegn.

The Prime Minister briefed the delegation on Ethiopian economy, bilateral Ethio-Sudanese relations and the Ethiopian stand to the challenges facing Africa; he defended the rejection of the South African government to arrest and hand over Sudanese President, Omer Hassan al-Bashir, to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Sudanese journalists vowed to continue giving their nation and Nile Basin countries updated data and right information about GERD through Sudanese Media.

The delegation is the second media trip to Ethiopia, the first delegation came to Ethiopia last year in a land trip visit started from Khartoum to the border city of Gallabat in East Sudan to Gondar, Baherdar, Addis Ababa up to Asosa and then the GERD site, they took the same route back to Khartoum, in a journey described as the biggest bilateral media activity between Sudan and Ethiopia and perhaps in the entire region of East Africa.

Mekki Elmograbi

The second delegation comprises representatives of TVs and agencies, editors of biggest Sudanese dailies, and prominent media figures, one of the delegates, Hasan Al-Batari a Sudanese veteran Journalists who served for almost 30 years in journalism said this visit will help not just our media community in Sudan but also our readers, viewers and audience to understand more clearly that the GERD will not cause any appreciable harm to downstream countries. Khalid Satti the Editor–in–Chief of Awal Al-Nahar Arabic daily and a presenter of a famous political talk show on Khartoum TV said we have the honor to get closer to one of the best models of economic success in Africa, “the road from Asosa to the site of GERD was enough to give honest observers that Ethiopia is building the dam for development and for the people” Khalid said.

During the visit, Sudanese journalists held discussion with officials from the Ministry for Water, Irrigation and Energy; the Minister, Alemayehu Tegenu, expressed his belief that the visit will enable Sudanese journalists make sure that GERD will have benefits to the downstream countries in preventing flooding and evaporation, and it will help media to resolve misconception regarding the dam.
The group was briefed about the project by manager at the site of GERD by Engineer Simegnew Bekele who led them in tour covered site.

Mekki Elmograbi a Sudanese press writer praised the cooperation of the Government Communication affairs office with Sudanese media and also their experience n organizing several visits for African and international media correspondents to the GERD and other development projects in Ethiopia, “last April, I had the honor to join the visit of the foreign correspondents to the Dam after the cooperation agreement in Khartoum and we learnt a lot from the trip”.

Mekki recalled the visit of Sudanese state minster at information Mr. Yasir Yousif to Addis Ababa and the bilateral talks with Minister Redwan Hussain, “both sides realized they have a lot of things to share for the good of the two countries and Africa”, Mekki said.

He wrote in his column about the experience of Sudanese journalists in Ethiopia, “Addis Ababa became the best place for Sudanese journalists to have practical training on covering big and important events such like African summits and the ongoing negotiations between Sudanese government and South Sudan as well as the negotiation between the government and armed movements and political parties”, he said, “the Sudanese media which are mainly using Arabic language have big contribution and good influence in Arabic media that serve audience in nearly 30 Arab-phone countries or African countries with Arabic speaking communities” he added.

Source: http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/