Addis Honors Mayor of Washington, DC with Street Naming
ADDIS ABABA – Representing the 704,000 residents of Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser celebrated the renaming of an Addis Ababa street in honor of the collaborative relationship between the two capital cities.
Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa, Takele Uma Banti, unveiled a newly-named street, “Mayor Muriel Bowser Street,” and announced the renaming of Gazebo Roundabout to “Washington DC Square” as part of the signing ceremony for the renewal of the Sister City Agreement between the District and Addis Ababa.
The agreement establishes a cooperative relationship to further the areas of economic development, public health, sustainability, culture, education, and government collaboration in both cities.
“I am delighted to accept this historic honor on behalf of all of the residents of Washington, DC,” said Mayor Bowser.
“This Sister City agreement is an effort to ensure we continue to collaborate and develop solutions that support the residents in both of our communities,” she said.
Home to more than 30,000 Ethiopians, the DC region has a multitude of Ethiopian business owners, families, entrepreneurs, community leaders, artists, and more.
The Sister City agreement signing ceremony was part of a five-day mission led by Mayor Bowser.
“Today, we renewed our Sister City Agreement with Washington, DC to create lasting partnerships and cooperation on economic development, public health, culture, tourism and education,” said Takele.
He also addressed to Ethiopians in DC saying “we need your passion, knowledge, expertise, creativity and the values that allowed you to be outstanding citizens and entrepreneurs in DC”.
The agreement confirms the two cities will, in short, ‘promote collaboration, information exchange, and joint ventures, with a special focus on the growth and development of business investment, trade and tourism and public-private partnerships.
Both also agreed to share information on best practices in the areas of government operation; including public works, transportation, technology, infrastructure and housing.
The agreement also entails to for the cities to share information on health policies and best practices to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs, among others.
Mayor Bowser also met Ethiopian leaders, including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, President Sahlework Zewde and minister of transport Dagmawit Moges.
Her discussion with Minister of Transport Dagmawit was focussed on ways to cooperate in transport management system. The two sides agreed to hold experiencing sharing and knowledge transfer programs in designing parking policy as well as reducing traffic jams and transport-related air pollution in Addis Ababa.