Date: Wednesday, 11 July 2018
On July 8, Asmara hosted the first high-level Ethiopian-Eritrean meeting in twenty years. During their talks, President of the State of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki and Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed discussed prospects of ending the long-term confrontation between the two countries, renewal of diplomatic relations, trade and economic cooperation and humanitarian cooperation, including interaction in maritime cargo transportation, launching direct flights, and developing telephone communications.
Moscow welcomes the renewal of direct Ethiopian-Eritrean contacts that became possible thanks to the goodwill of the leaders of the two states. Russia has consistently spoken in favour of overcoming existing disagreements between Addis Ababa and Asmara exclusively through peaceful means and focused political and diplomatic efforts in search of mutually acceptable resolution.