Addis Abeba, January 10/2018 – As part of the official visit of the Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar to Ethiopia, Prime Minister Varadkar and the Ethiopian Minister for Culture and Tourism Hirut Kassaw (PhD), visited the Lalibela UNESCO World Heritage Site today and announced a new cultural heritage tourism partnership between Ireland and Ethiopia. Speaking after visiting the Lalibela UNESCO Heritage Site, Prime Minister Varadkar said: “Following my visit to the Lalibela UNESCO World Heritage site today, I am delighted to announce a new partnership between Ethiopia and Ireland in cultural heritage tourism.”According to PM Varadkar, this will consist of a series of exchanges and experience sharing between Irish and Ethiopian institutions, focused on cultural heritage tourism and rural job creation through tourism. “[Dr Hirut Kassaw] will visit Ireland this spring to meet with relevant tourism and cultural heritage bodies in Ireland, including Failte Ireland and OPW, and finalize a program of experience sharing between Ireland and Ethiopia,” he said. Ireland stated that Ireland and Ethiopia already have an existing partnership on cultural heritage tourism and there have been a number of exchanges between the two countries, including between tourism officials from Newgrange in Ireland and Axum in Ethiopia. “I look forward to my visit to Ireland and to leading this new partnership on cultural heritage tourism.

Source: Ethiopian News January 10, 2019 10:30 UTC