Yesterday, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway continued their visit to Ethiopia. This was the second of the visit’s total three days. They arrived in Ethiopia on Monday to prepare for their visit. On the first day of the trip, they attended a number of official events in the nation’s capital and assisted the Norwegian economic delegation who are following the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess on their visit.
The focus on their second day was Norway and Ethiopia’s cooperation in when it comes to health and climate. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess, therefore, started their second day of the visit to the ALERT Centre, where the Crown Princess opened a conference on health, research and higher education. ALERT is a pioneer in plastic surgery in Ethiopia, as well as being the national centre for hand surgery. Health-related cooperation between Ethiopia and Norway has long traditions.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon during their meeting with the Norwegian trade delegation to Ethiopia. Photo: Kjetil S. Bergmann, Innovation Norway via Flickr.
After this, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited some of Ethiopia’s many peasants. About 80% of Ethiopia’s population consists of farmers. The Crown Princess received a traditional hair-decoration on her visit to the farmers of Oromia. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess visited a Norwegian-supported project during their agricultural visit to Oromia, the Sustainable Land Management Project.
After the visit to Oromia, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess participated in a lunch with the Norwegian organisations that are following the delegation to Ethiopia. The meeting took place at the Norwegian Lutheran Mission in Ethiopia. At the Norwegian Lutheran Mission, the Crown Prince Couple could see pictures from King Olav’s visit here in 1966.
In the afternoon, they met with the head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Dr Addisu Gebregziabher. The day was then ended with a reception with the Norwegian ambassador, Mr Andreas Gaarder. During the dinner with the ambassador, Crown Prince Haakon held a speech where he said: “The ambassador has indeed kept us quite busy while we have been here in Ethiopia. It has been a very interesting programme.”
