The Addis Ababa project site of the Office of the First Lady of Ethiopia that focused on the project“Connecting 1,500 Women and Young Girls to the Export Market” was visited by H. E. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General (SG) of the United Nations on Wednesday, July 16, 2015. H. E. Roman Tesfaye, First Lady of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Nigest Haile, the Executive Director of the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE), which is the project’s executing organization, received the SG at Shiromeda.
The Secretary General was also accompanied by Mr. Eugene Owusu, Resident Representative, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Ms. Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director, International Trade Center (ITC).
Following the briefing, the Secretary General accompanied by the First Lady of Ethiopia and other dignitaries visited the mini-exhibition on gemstones and jewellery and hand woven products produced, mixing cotton and cashmere.
Completing the visits to the three different production sites (hand spinning, hand weaving and hand knitting), H. E. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, provided his reflections on his visit, where he congratulated the Office of the First Lady and CAWEE for the amazing work that they are doing. The Secretary General underlined that, such kinds of interventions are major tools for poverty eradication and development of a nation.
Following the reflections of H. E. Ban Ki-moon, H. E. Roman Tesfaye delivered her closing remarks by sincerely thanking the Secretary General for visiting the mini-exhibition and the production sites of her project. She thanked the UNDP Ethiopia Country Office for its generous financial support to realize this part of the project that was visited by the UN Secretary General. She further appreciated the involvement of CAWEE in the implementation of the project. The First Lady also recognized the active involvement of EDC (Entrepreneurship Development Center) in the provision of business development services to the trainees.
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