Addis Ababa, Dec. 18(ENA)--Ethiopia is one of the major beneficiaries of European Union's (EU) development assistance among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP-EU) countries, State minister of Finance and Economic Development said.

Dr Mulu Ketsela said since 1976, Ethiopia has secured about 2.5 billion Euros from EU foreign aid program to address its development efforts.

Dr. Mulu made the announcement here on Tuesday at the opening of a daylong seminar organized to sensitize journalists about the work that the European commission is doing in Ethiopia.

According to the state minister, EU continued to be one of the major financiers of emergency assistance to Ethiopia, which was evidenced by the recent pledge it made in response to the Government's appeal to mitigate the current drought situation.

Despite such longstanding, fruitful and cordial partnership, cooperation that exists between Ethiopia and the European Union, public awareness of this dynamic relationship seemed to be rather low, Dr. Mulu said.

She said the media must also be quite knowledgeable on the history and work of the union and its institutions in a bid to improve public knowledge.

Ethiopia is one of the 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that signed the new partnership agreement, an important element of the Cotonou agreement, with the 15 member states of the EU on 23 June 2000.

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