ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday reaffirmed the country's open-door policy for refugees that are flocking into Ethiopia mainly from its unsettled neighboring countries.
Presently hosting more than 850,000 refugees from 21 countries with South Sudanese, Somalis, Eritreans, and Sudanese making up the majority, Hirut Zemene, Ethiopian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, affirmed the open-door policy.
Zemene, during her discussion with Rosemary McCarney, UNHCR'S Executive Committee member and Canadian Ambassador to the UN, on joint efforts underway to address the refugee crisis in the region, indicated that Ethiopia has managed to sustain national development together with addressing issues of refugee.
The East African country has registered an additional 54,107 refugees in just the first five months of 2017, according to recent figure by the Ethiopian Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).
Zemene has also outlined her country's commitment to effectively implement the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in collaboration with UNHCR to bring lasting solution to the refugee crisis in the region.
Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, during his recent visit to Ethiopia, also praised efforts made by the Ethiopian government in handling the refugee crisis.
Grandi, who attended the World Refugee Day commemorative ceremony held in Ethiopia's Gameblla regional state, which hosts majority of the South Sudanese refugees, said "Ethiopia is a very good model of how a country with limited resources and a great challenge of its own keeps its doors open."
