Opening address by H.E. Ato Tamirat Layne, prime minister of the transitional government of Ethiopia : to the sixty-second session of the council of minister of the African unity

Abstract

Opening Address by His Excellency Ato Tamirat Layne, Prime Minister of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia at the Sixty-second Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity. H.E. Ato Tamirat, on his remarks highlighted that our Continent is the most affected by the debt overhang and the debt service obligations of all regions of the world. Despite the demand for liberalization which is sometimes pushed as an end in itself and beyond what those who make the demand are prepared to do themselves, and upon which most African countries have embarked, the double standard we face in this area has meant that access for our commodities to Western markets continues to be difficult. The OAU has indeed taken some encouraging steps in the course of the past two years to enhance its capacity in the area of the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts. The creation and strengthening of a capacity for early warning and of all the other necessary conditions that would enable the Organization to contain conflicts before they occur and to help remove their sources need to be the primary preoccupation of the Organization.