Norwegian Parlamentarian delegation in town.
A Norwegian Parlamentarian delegation is attending the 120th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Addis Ababa 5-10 April. Yesterday the delegation attended the opening ceremony of the Assembly in the Millennium Hall. Speeches by the Speakers of the the two houses of the Ethiopian Parliament, the Chairman of the African Union Jean Ping, Executive Secretary of UN-ECA Abdoulie Janneh, President of the IPU, former prime minister of Namibia Ben Guriab as well as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi marked the opening ceremony, followed by a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister. The Norwegian delegation is headed by Thore A. Nistad (see picture).
The Norwegian delegation, headed by Thore A. Nistad from the Progress Party will be actively participating in the deliberations of the Assembly all week in different functions. The main topics of the Assembly will be i.a. to discuss ways out of the current global financial crisis; and as Ben Guriab hopefully said during the opening, have a special eye to the African needs.
Deputy leader of the Norwegian delegation is Espen Johnsen from the Labour Party, accompanied by Sigrun Eng, also from Labour, Ola T. Lånke from the Christian Democratic Party and Per Roar Bredevold form the Progress Party. Bjørnar Dahl Hotvedt and Anne Laila Høge are adviser and secretary to the delegation respectively. Most of the delegation will remain in Ethiopia after the official programme is over to visit Norwegian development projects and the old stone churches in Lalibela.