On Thursday, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit finished a three-day long visit to Ethiopia. They arrived in Ethiopia on Monday to prepare for their trip. On the first day, they attended a number of official events in the nation’s capital and assisted the Norwegian economic delegation who were following the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess on their visit. On the visit’s second day, they met with local farmers and had the opportunity to try real Ethiopian quality coffee.
Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited young people during training at workshops for wood and metalwork and a cooking and beauty salon during their stay at the refugee camp. They also visited the camp carpentry workshop.
On their last day in Ethiopia, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess travelled away from the central areas around the capital. They went north to the Hitsats refugee camp. Ethiopia receives many refugees and is a very important actor in migration issues. This is because Ethiopia has an “open door” approach to refugees and is the country in Africa that receives the most; however, they were just passed by Uganda.
Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit taste Ethiopian coffee. Photo: Marianne Hagen, Det kongelige hoff / The Royal Court.
As of September 2017, there were over 883,000 registered refugees in Ethiopia. Most come from southern Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. The Kingdom of Norway supports projects for education for children and young people in crisis situations, and there in the Hitsats, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess could see this in practice.
The visit to the refugee camp was the last part of the Crown Prince Couple’s programme during their official visit to Ethiopia. At the conclusion of the visit, they travelled directly back to Norway, arriving back at 4:30 on Friday. Crown Prince Haakon does not yet have listed any official assignments in the royal calendar for another ten days; then he will visit the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in Oslo. On the same day, the Crown Princess will attend the anniversary of Knut Hamsun’s novel Markens grød in Oslo.
