Establishment of a Sister City

Aigaforum 02/23/2008: Aigaforum has learned the City of Addis Ababa and Oakland are working to forge a sister city alliance with a ceremony to be held in Addis and Oakland sometime in the next few months. The mayor of Oakland has shown interest and the deal could be approved by the City council soon.

Aigaforum has also learned that some ill informed individuals from the Ethiopian community tried to persuade the Oakland officials from embracing Addis Ababa as a sister city. However, with the help of EPRDF Support Forum Bay Area chapter, as well as members of the Ethiopian community at large, the deal is almost sealed. Concerned Ethiopians and EPRDF Support Forum members were able to garner the support of key community leaders and Church Members from the Oakland Area to persuade city officials to go ahead with establishing the relationship with Addis Ababa. We believe this is an ideal opportunity for our capital city Addis Ababa, to share information and cultures, to provide excellent and mutual benefits in the areas of trade, tourism and cultural exchange.

The Consulate General of Ethiopia in Los Angeles and the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC were instrumental in initiating and creating this relationship between the two cities. According to the EPRDF Support Forum members that spearheaded the effort to convince the Mayor and his office, they feel it is a great beginning and exemplary for the Ethiopian Embassy to be stretching itself to foster and grow the relationship with local Ethiopian communities by soliciting their help and involving them in this effort. It is this kind of synergy that we all should work towards the interest of our people to promote the image of Ethiopia.

Aigaforum would like to stress the importance of Ethiopian missions abroad to work with the Diaspora community. The Diaspora community seems to be ready to help in all endeavors and be involve in the ongoing Ethiopian renaissance. The recently formed EPRDF Support Forum is one clear indication that the Diaspora community is ready to help. The two missions in the USA ought to work hand in hand to leverage the large Diaspora community in the hemisphere.