May 27, 2017
EriTV interview with President Isias Afwerki
Eri-Tv and Dimtsi Hafash Radio conducted a two-hour live interview with President Isaias Afwerki yesterday on the occasion of the 26th Anniversary of Independence Day.
President Isaias highlighted the warm ties between Eritrea and Egypt; the hollow rhetoric by the Ethiopian regime on the so-called “new policy towards Eritrea”; the implementation and progress of agricultural development programs; affordable housing challenges and the spike in rents, speculative trading practices as well as the imperative of ensuring involvement of Eritreans in the Diaspora on national development programmes.
In regard to the growing ties between Eritrea and Egypt, President Isaias indicated that the bilateral relationship between the two countries has tremendously grown in a short period of time and that this will have significant dividends to the promotion of peace and stability in the region.
President Isaias further stated that Eritrea is pursuing a policy of strategic engagement in the region to ensure stable and healthy neighborhood for the benefit of mutual interest and that the relation between Eritrea and Egypt emanates from that noble vision. He also said that the claim by the Ethiopian regime that the relation between Eritrea and Egypt is targeting the “millennium dam” is unfounded and stems from an unhealthy mind set.
In responding to the underlying motive and objective of Ethiopia’s recent pronouncements of a “new policy towards Eritrea”, President Isaias explained in greater detail the strategic mistakes committed by the TPLF regime in the past two decades with costly ramifications to the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia as well as the whole Horn of Africa region. President Isaias noted that the regime’s hollow pronouncements are largely meant to deflect attention from the quagmire of its own making. He also pointed out that the pointless propaganda will not derail Eritrea from its cherished path of building a prosperous and secure nation.
On domestic issues, President Isaias described in detail GOE programmes of building the water infrastructure, plans laid down to ensure provision of requisite equipment for irrigation and the development of agro-industry, regulatory measures envisioned to curb speculative price hikes in the retail sector, government plans for housing as well as the role of the Eritrean Diaspora in investment in the home country, provision of expert services and advocacy work in their places of residence.
