Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs visits his alma mater
Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hailemariam Dessalegn visited Tampere University of Technology on 21 March. He graduated with a master’s degree from TUT in 1992.The honourable guest graduated with distinction. He still remembered the building on campus and the sewer, from which he took samples for his master’s thesis titled ‘Municipal wastewater treatment in sequencing batch achieved sludge process package plants’. After graduation, Dessalegn has worked, among others, as a teacher and dean at Arba Minch Water Technology Institute. In October 2010, he was appointed as Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is facing a challenging task: to inject momentum into the Nile Water negotiations that have already been going on for 15 years with the riparian countries, especially Egypt.
At TUT, Hailemariam Dessalegn met President Markku Kivikoski, water management experts and other professionals who are involved in projects in Africa.
“During the meeting, we explored new avenues for collaboration in research and education, for example, in the field of water management and biotechnology.,” says Adjunct Professor Tapio Katko.
Hailemariam Dessalegn visited Finland between the 19th and 22nd of March. The Foreign Minister met Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb and Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala. In addition, he had a meeting with the President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö, former President Martti Ahtisaari and Finland’s Special Representative for African crises, MP Pekka Haavisto.
Read a related article in the science magazine Interface: Water education makes a global difference.