We are more than determined to bridge [Armenia and Ethiopia]. You are the first ambassadors of Armenia in Ethiopia. Once again, I want to thank you, says Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to the Armenian community representatives in Addis Ababa
ADDIS ABABA (Armenpress) ― Foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, during an official visit to Ethiopia, met with the representatives of the local Armenian community on April 4.
The minister thanked the community representatives for the reception and highlighted the community’s importance in Ethiopia’s public-political life and its bridging role in the relations of the two countries.
He praised the role of the Armenian community in preserving their national identity.
“During the whole period of the visit we felt the deep respect to Armenians here. We are a nation who always managed to stand firm, create wealth for itself and its communities. And you prove this. And the self-confidence we have towards our country comes from each Armenian who creates what is called a reputation of Armenian. I want to thank you for investing this self-confidence here, in this country. We are more than determined to bridge our countries. You are the first ambassadors of Armenia in Ethiopia. Once again, I want to thank you,” Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said.
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The minister introduced the community on Armenia’s foreign policy priorities and government’s action plan which is directed for boosting the economy based on the development of innovation, high technologies and creative education. He also presented Armenia’s approaches and principled stance on the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Before the meeting Mnatsakanyan visited the St. George Armenian Apostolic Church in Addis Ababa.
Armenians in Ethiopia
Individual Armenians have settled in Ethiopia as traders and advisors, but it was only in the late 1800s and early 1900 that a community was formed.
In 1924, the future Emperor Haile Selassie ‘adopted’ forty orphans from the Armenian orphanage in Jerusalem and brought them to Ethiopia, making them his official Imperial Marching Band. History recounts these forty Armenians as the Arba Lijoch (“forty children” in Amharic). Their leader, Kevork Nalbandian originally from Aintab (modern-day Gaziantep) in the southeastern region of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, composed the national anthem of Ethiopia in 1930, which played until the Communist Revolution of 1974, when it was discontinued.
Read more about Ethiopian Armenians and the Armenian community in Ethiopia at “In The Company of Emperors: The Story of Ethiopian Armenians“
Source: The Armenian Mirror-Spectator and The Armenite