UK foreign minister visits Ethiopia amid talks on migration and jobs

Britain’s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said she would use a visit to Ethiopia on Monday to focus on measures to stem rising numbers of migrants from the Horn of Africa seeking to reach the United Kingdom.

Cooper said job creation partnerships would help dissuade people from leaving Ethiopia, while stronger law enforcement cooperation was essential to counter smuggler gangs and speed up returns of migrants with no right to stay in Britain.

“We are working together to tackle the economic drivers of illegal migration and the criminal gangs who operate globally, profiting from trading in people,” Cooper said in a statement.

“That includes new partnerships to improve trade and create thousands of good jobs in Ethiopia so people can find a better life back home instead of making perilous journeys.”

The British foreign ministry said around 30 per cent of people crossing the English Channel on small boats over the past two years were nationals from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan.

Successive British governments have tried to tackle illegal immigration, an issue which has helped to propel populist campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party into a commanding opinion poll lead.

To help boost job creation in Ethiopia, Cooper is due to sign an agreement to take forward two energy transmission projects led by Gridworks, a UK investment organisation.

She was also due to announce 17 million pounds worth of funding for tackling violence against women and girls, assistance for 68,000 children suffering malnutrition, and projects working with displaced people.