Tel Aviv(ANN)-Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali kicked off a two day visit to Israel on Sunday by talking briefly with the mother of Avera Mengistu who is being held in Gaza, and sending words of comfort to the Ethiopian-Israeli youth Solomon Teka, who was killed by an off-duty policeman in an incident in June that sparked massive demonstrations. reported Jerusalem post.
Abiy, who was elected in April 2018, arrived Sunday morning for his first visit to Israel as prime minister and went directly to Yad Vashem, and from there to the Prime Minister’s Office for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu invited Agamesh Mengistu, the mother of Avera Mengistu, to be among those in the receiving line when Abiy arrived, and the two spoke briefly.
Abiy, during his opening comments, sent condolences to the families of three Israelis who lost their lives in Ethiopia this year: Shimon Re’em and Avraham Matzliah, who were killed in the crash of an Ethiopian airliner in March, and Aya Na’aman, who died during a trek in the Ethiopian Salt Desert in August.
He then said that he would also like to “take this opportunity to pay respects to the family of Solomon Teka, an Ethiopian Israeli, who lost his life in a tragic event here in Israel.”
In times of tragedy, he said, the two countries “mourn together as two families.”
Speaking two words of Hebrew, he said, “We are brothers.”
Netanyahu welcome Abiy by praising the economic reforms that he has instituted in Ethiopia, saying that the 150,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent in Israel were a “living bridge” between the two countries, and pledging to do what he can to encourage Israeli investment in Ethiopia.
“Our trade is small, only $300 million, and can grow ten times,” he said, adding that trade and investments, as well as cooperation in matters of security, agriculture, water management and technology were to be the focus of their talks.
Netanyahu said that both Israel and Ethiopia are being “challenged by radical Islamic terrorists, and we believe we can offer some shared experience that we have garnered.”
Abiy’s visit to Israel follows trips he made last week to South Korea and Japan. Netanyahu visited Ethiopia in 2016.
Source: Jerusalem post
