we are dealing with a nimble opponent. >> and we are losing. >> yes. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello there and welcome to the news hour, i'm laura in doha and coming up, in the next 60 minutes more air strikes and more arrests as turkey continues to attack the p.k.k. and i.s.i.l. humanitarian fighting begins in yemen but whether it will hold. ceremonial welcome as barack obama begins his first full day in ethiopia and we will take you there live and. >> i'm in one of europe's

leading robot labs where the octopus is inspiring a new generation of surgical technology. ♪ counter terrorism police in turkey have arrested 15 i.s.i.l. suspects during morning raids in the capitol and 13 p.k.k. suspects have also been detained in the southeast. turkish jets have again been bombing the kurdistan party or p.k.k. targets across the border in northern iraq and also known as the y.p.g. who are battling i.s.i.l. in northern syria said the turkish army shelled north of kobani and denied by the government and says the y.p.g. could have a place in syria's future if it cuts all ties with the assad regime and turkey has no plans to send ground troops

into syria and court reporters covering the story near the syrian border and bernard smith in istanbul and let's go to turkey at the moment and first of all let's talk about these arrests. >> well, yeah these arrests, the latest arrests are 15 people picked up in raids by turkish police, all of them the turkish authorities tell us they are foreigners and brings to 900 people the government has either links to i.s.i.l. or links to p.k.k., the kurdistan workers party and have links to an extreme left wing group and turkey lumping them together and part of a series of raids going on for several weeks and months now and certainly picked up in the last week or so after that suicide bombing down near the border with syria, laura.

>> turkey called a nato meeting tomorrow and do we know why it's specifically called that? >> well it's called really turkey is able to do nato members able to do this when it feels that its territory is under threat and called the meeting to essentially publically make known what the actions it is taking in syria and not immediately calling for nato members to offer military support to turkey it's a matter of turkey telling its nato allies what it's doing in syria now that it has joined this u.s. led coalition in the fight against i.s.i.l. in syria by launching air strikes against i.s.i.l. targets in syria, the turkish government pointing out today and saying it's not targeting syrian kurdish positions in syria, saying it is only targeting p.k.k. kurdistan in

northern iraq. >> thank you from istanbul and now we go to southern turkey and zana getting news about this town in syria which has been taken by the syrian kurds and tell us more about that. >> well this was an i.s.i.l.-controlled town south of kobani a stronghold of the syrian kurds. what we understand is the main syrian kurdish fighting force have now taken over the town. i.s.i.l. really has lost a lot of territory to the syrian kurds over resent weeks. the kurds now control more than half of the territory that lies along the border between turkey and syria. and this really is what causes concern in turkey. turkish officials are worried about the growing strength of syria's kurds. we managed to speak to a

spokesman of the y.p.g. and did welcome turkish decision to join the fight against i.s.i.l. but y.p.g. believes turkey is more concerned with targeting the kurds and just shows you the growing tensions between turkey and the syrian kurds and the syrian kurds feel the war against i.s.i.l. that turkey declared is a cover up and what the turks want to do is contain the syrian kurds extension, taking more territory in syria but we did hear from the prime minister. he said he laid down certain conditions where he sees the y.p.g. playing a role in quote the new syria. one of the conditions is the syrian kurds must support syrian opposition groups. what turkey is trying to do is put opposition under one umbrella and so far the kurds yes do fight with some syrian rebel forces but these are not the main syrian groups and want the main opposition groups the to fall under one umbrella to prevent the kurds from an

atonomous region. >> what are relations like between the y.p.g. and ankora? >> well turkey considers the y.p.g. an offshoot of the p.k.k. and that is why it's so worried. territory is controlled by syrian kurds and feel this will in one way or another arose separate sentiments among its own kurdish population. what is happening in syria now is turkey seems to be really concerned with the battlefield in the north. now it is saying that it got an agreement from the united states that the coalition will also help syrian opposition groups fight i.s.i.l. i.s.i.l. is trying to push west towards the aleppo countryside. turkey wants to make sure opposition groups are not weakened. why? they support groups and shouldn't be weakened so they

can continue the fight against the syrian government and now we see increased cooperation between turkey and the united states. we still have no confirmation from the u.s. on whether or not this agreement was reached. but most observers believe that what turkey wants is to clear the area behind me from i.s.i.l., prevent the kurds from pushing west make sure syrian opposition is strong and has access to the border crossing and what is going on has a lot to do with the battlefield in northern syria. >> zana live on the border of syria, thanks very much and let's take a look now at these kurdish forces that are operating in the region and we have between 30-40 million kurds living in turkey iraq, iran and syria. syrian kurdish forces known as y.p.g. or the kurdish protection unit has atonomy against kurds and joined the fight in syria

and supported by the u.s. military. meanwhile the kurdistan workers party or p.k.k. are fighting for greater power for kurds in turkey and mainly based in northern iraq. the p.k.k. was established in 1987 and battled turkish forces until a ceasefire two years ago, more than 40,000 people have died during that 30-year struggle. turkey and the u.s. and nato all consider the p.k.k. to be a terrorist organization. let's speak now from the kurdish democratic union party or p.y.d. and joins us via skype from the syrian town of kobani and first of all let's clear up one issue that has come up today. the kurds saying turkey has been hitting syrian kurds and y.p.g. adjust and turkey denying that. >> thank you for having me i'm not a member of y.p.g. i'm the

foreign minister and part of the general administration in kobani. what happened in west of kobani in the village which is 30 kilometers west of kobani and one kilometer east and according to a statement the turkish forces target ded places of forces of y.p.g. and other groups that coordinated and injuring four fighters. this is the second last night actually it was last night, this is the second time they target the positions here and the first one was on 24th of july and the second was last night and also in the eastern side of kobani which is part of a statement

here and turkish forces they targeted and military but didn't mention within this attack. >> we know that it's targeting p.k.k. forces kurdish, turkish kurds and how linked up are they? >> not p.k.k. in the kurdish regions in syria in kobani for al jazeera. and al jazeera and kobani in the regions are particular administration declare fighting all components of this region are turkmen's questions and syrians and others. p.k.k. is a political party in northern part of turkey. they are fighting for humanitarian rights in turkey. so turkey now is targeting of

this and also with targeting of p.k.k. and are trying to use the coalition against the dash to target the kurd's political parties and this is something unacceptable because we have to differentiate between the terrorists and the political movements that demand for humanitarian rights for some ethical groups. >> great to speak to you thanks for joining us there from kobani. >> thank you very much. well staying in turkey a police officer has been shot dead at the funeral for a left wing activist in istanbul and he was suspected of being a member of the band far left people's liberation party front. she was killed during a raid by security forces on friday.

it's unclear who fired the shot that killed the policeman. saudi-led coalition forces responded to houthi shelling close to yemen's border, in less than 24 hours since they began a ceasefire to allow aid to be sent in and secretary-general issued a statement saying houthis and congress and all other parties will agree to and maintain humanitarian pause for the sake of all yemen people. saudi arabia says the coalition will react to large military coalition and does not violate the five-day hold shelling and we have more. >> reporter: thousands of people in these mountains outside the city of thai are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. pro-government tribes in yemen military making gains in the west but the contested city remains under siege by fighters and loyalists, a five-day saudi-led truce is meant for

supplies and reach areas like thai. >> translator: our goal is clear, it's the safety and security of the yemen people and importance of delivering humanitarian aid. there is a commitment from the u.n. that the houthi malitia will accept ceasefire and not attack or steal humanitarian supplies. >> reporter: they have not commits to the pause and complained to the u.n. about what they call on going breaches by saudi arabia to the last truce called by the u.n. >> the saudi i think want to use a ceasefire to position their troops on loyalist and aiden and they will use the ceasefire to bring more troops in the name of humanitarian aid to aiden. >> reporter: but yemen's government in exile insists the truce is purely humanitarian and puts the burden on houthi fighters to allow help for 21 million yemen people who need assistance. >> translator: as yemen's government we are with the

humanitarian truce but support a truce that is fully implemented and not support one that is used for expansion or change conditions on the ground. >> reporter: in the southern port city of aiden more aid has arrived along with the u.n. humanitarian coordinator, the biggest change after storing supplies is reach areas cutoff by fighting and the coalition blockade has made matters worse. >> the problem with this conflict is a security because of the ground facing and also extreme application of the resolution 2216 of the united nations which, in fact with the weapon and it's extremely safety restriction which hands off the life of everybody. >> reporter: for now a one-sided truce is in effect with a country where two previous ceasefires have failed and civilians are continuing to pay the price. al jazeera. at least six people have

been killed in the state of punjab northern india and still on going and attacked a bus and stormed a police station near the border with pakistan. and we are joined live from new deli and the attacks ongoing, tell us what is happening. >> that's right. at this point the army operation that is taking place is ongoing. we have an update on the death toll there and hearing from the ground, the total is eight including two gunmen but the operation is on going and has been on going for sometime and this attack unfolded this morning but we should say in terms of the gunmen involved in this it's still very unclear where they are where they have come from and which group they belong to and what kind of ramification this could have on

regular relationships between india and pakistan despite the ambiguity at this stage of the nature of the attacks and where these gunmen are from india's home minister has said india does want peace with pakistan but not at the cost of national honor. india opposition party including the congress party also this afternoon come out and suggested this is a major intelligence failure on part of the indian security officials so it may be sometime yet until we see more about their exact nature of the attack and it's still on going and hard to provide details and keeping in mind there is little information coming from the ground of what is happening because a quarter held up and the media being held behind that as well. >> thanks for the update from new deli. much more still ahead on this news hour we are back in burundi where the main opposition leader has turned up for the first session of parliament since the

conversetroversial election plus. >> reporting from tecna where increasing amount of methamphetamine are being smuggled from myanmar into bangladesh. and mexico claimed their 7th gold cup title but not everyone is celebrating and we will tell you why later in sport. ♪ barack obama is meeting ethiopia's prime minister to discuss how to boost security and business ties. and this is the second stop of the u.s. president's tour of east africa after his three-day visit to kenya. obama is due to become the first u.s. president in office to address the african union, that is happening on tuesday. mohamed has more now. >> cut flowers for export in the

suburbs of ethiopian capitol. growing flowers is a new business in ethiopia. within a few years it has become the world's fourth largest flower exported. >> the flower in general is contributing a significant amount of foreign currency for the local economy. it was really like hundreds thousands of dollars really for flower. today we are talking about nearly $300 million of exports. >> reporter: this is all part of a government policy to transform the economy through agricultural. thousands of kilometers of roads have been built in the past ten years. ethiopia is also home to africa's first light rail project. the idea is to bring farm produce faster to the market and make more farms commercial and critics point to human rights abuses and some committed in the name of development and also complain of what they call lack

of democracy and portion sustainability of the country's economic past. journalist was released after being held more than four years on terrorism charges. >> translator: incomplete and journalists in jail and done no wrong and people in prison for samely speaking their mind. >> reporter: ethiopia opposition is smarting from a heavy election loss in may. the governing party say it warned all 547 states in parliament. >> it is not the election of fraud but it is really an organized robbery. >> reporter: government leaders insist insist ethiopia is heading in the right direction. >> we will continue on this track so we are preparing not only for the middle class and income but also aspireing to countries. >> reporter: barack obama will

put pressure on the government to tackle the human rights record. the government will in turn be eager to deflect attention to its record of growth and poverty induction and cooperation with the united states. mohamed with al jazeera, ethiopia. burundi's main opposition party turned up in parliament despite earlier threatening to boycott the first session since the election and we have called for a fresh vote and denounced the president third-term win and pierre nkurunziza got 60% of the vote last week but critics say the ballot was nor credible or legitimate and we have the latest from burundi's capitol. >> reporter: reaction from supporters has been mixed and some say they are angry and frustrated and disappointed and can't understand why he called to boycott the election and the first to arrive at the parliament building behind me but this could be out of a

crisis and many people say they don't want war, they don't want violence. if him being here in parliament is agreeing to be in government brings peace so be it. and if this actually happens will it actually work? people know it could take time and the president pierre nkurunziza don't get along and say they don't trust each other and if he agrees to the government in it's set up he will do one year of sharing power and cannot do five years so after one year he says the country then should have another election. time to get an update on all the weather and everton it looks like europe already had the summer. >> and spring combine and inclimate and disappointing and you see the massive cloud spilling out of uk across the low countries and parts of france. wet in tour de france yesterday as you may or may not have

noticed and the first in history and certainly disappointing there and take a look at the weather chart we have here something of a dart board and this is a terminal where you expect to see wet and windy weather in northwestern parts and certainly had windy weather as we went on through the course of saturday into sunday. so we are seeing very strong winds, pictures coming out of holland and winds gusting as high as 100 kilometers per hour in amsterdam and brought down trees and destroyed roots and power lines also were struggling to cope with the conditions here. and let me go with pretty poor weather through the remainder of monday and wet and windy weather will make its way further east with live downpours going on through the next couple of days. 19 celsius on london and a touch warmer through the course of wednesday. this warm sunshine you are after you better head south, laura.

>> everton thank you very much for bringing us the weather there. now serious flooding is effecting almost 300,000 people in the pakistan days into heavy monsoon rains, at least 51 people have been killed. the district in the northeast of the country where many people are still stranded and carolyn malone reports. >> reporter: villages are deserted at some of the flood-hit parts. in other parts of the district people are trying to dig themselves out of the rubble. there have been days of heavy rain causing rivers to rise to dangerously high levels. rivers have been washed away as has flimsy buildings as well as cattle. crucial crops have been damaged and people are desperate. >> translator: i have lost everything but there is no help from the government. they are treating us like cattle and there is no support in the coming days then there is no way for me except to commit suicide.

>> reporter: military helicopters have delivered aid to some people stranded by the floods. bottled water has become more valuable because drinking water is running out. >> translator: we are in dire need of food and water after we lost everything in the flood. >> reporter: many are desperate to get out of the worst-hit areas. some have made it on to military helicopters sent by the government. more rain is expected and everyone is trying to do what they can to prepare for any more flash floods. caroline malone al jazeera. on to the second part of our series of a popular weed killer raising serious health concerns and it's mostly sold under the name round up and linked it to cancer and the manufacturers say the science doesn't add up and we report from shri-lanka where

it is banned. >> reporter: waiting for the latest medical report will bring some relief and one of more than 69,000 people diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, a condition mostly diagnosed in male farmers in north central sla . >> translator: they say there is no cure and i have to keep taking medicine. >> reporter: blames a powerful chemical he used to kill weeds and grasses and it was given by an american company under the grand name round up more than 30 years ago. after the monopoly ended a number of other companies began making this used extensively in over 160 countries. >> translator: saturated with round up and likes the total weed killer area.

>> reporter: the government banned this in may this year making in the second country in the world to do so. the weed killer made popular is still available on the black market. we bought this can quite easily. despite its wide use reachers say it's not only killing weeds but humans as well. from the university says he believes there is a link between this and kidney failures in this region. >> once you use it in places where this is there are a possibility of complex but i think he knew this fact but they intentionally hide the fact. >> reporter: al jazeera contacted the ban on the import

of round up and declined an interview on camera but said we are extremely disappointed by this development and says there is no scientific evidence to justify this and this by the authority is arbitrary and deny farmers a key tool for high yields from their fields. on what is causes the disease people here just want to make sure the products they are using on their farms are safe. al jazeera, north central s sri-lanka. the nation address and we will look at his five years as leader and making dramatic entrance on to the world's stage and tell you why male swimmers are finally able to make a splash. ♪

hello again, i'm laura kyle and these are the top stories on al jazeera, turkish police detained dozens of aisle and p.k.k. across the country and called for emergency nato meeting to discuss threats to national security. at least six people are dead after gunman attacked police and a bus station in the northern indian state and india stepped up security along pakistan border and it is down to eight. barack obama has held talks with ethiopia prime minister on his first day to the east africa

nation and also talking to regional leaders in south sudan and address the african union. president obama criticized for not having impact of predecessors and bush was praised for the aids epidemic and clinton on trade restrictions on 30 african nations and obama highlights key initiatives as well such as $7 billion africa program to improve electricity across sub sahara and people on help craft against the army and driven out of uganda but still in democratic republic of congo and central republic and southern sudan and $5 million to combat boko haram in nigeria and white house spent hundreds of millions of dollars and deployed 3,000 troops to stop the spread of

ebola in west africa. hallelujah is a researcher from the institute for security studies and joins us via skype from ababa and how are people there in ethiopia reacting to obama's visit because he got of course a welcome in his home in kenya, is it quite the same in ethiopia? >> it's not and we expect that kinds of reception and the reception in nairobi was kind of a home coming one and considered barack obama as one of their own. in ethiopia there is excitement because it's the first time a sitting u.s. president is visiting ethiopia and he is an african/american so it is double but but -- >> unfortunately we appear to have lost him there. we are going to move on foul

now to somalia, it has been confirmed a security officer was among the nine killed in an al-shabab attack on sunday and china foreign minister said three others injured in an explosion and says it was in retaliation for offensive against its fighters by african union forces. philippine president has delivered his final state of the nation address. the 6th and last before his term ends next june and keynote was elected five years ago on a pledge to combat corruption which critics say he has failed to honor. we are joined now by the vice dean and associate professor for public policy at the national university of singapore. great to have you with us. we just saw that he has been wrapping up his state of the nation address there. what do you think his legacy there in the philippines is

going to be? >> yeah good to be here. i think the president's legacy as you said is about good governance and that simply means fighting corruption and he is the only president in history who has charged the former president, president royal, the chief justice of the supreme court, the former senate president and a few former politicians and my score card i give him an a plus for fighting corruption and overall i give him a b plus because he has not delivered on some of his promises but b plus is still a very good grade, as a professor a b plus is a good grade in singapore and gave him a b plus because of performance in economic reforms, philippines receive a lot of credit rating. the economy is doing very well.

growth is at an all-time high. business confidence is at an all-time high and passed the syntax law and shipping reform and so on. but i didn't give him an a plus because he failed to pass some of the promises that he kept one of which is peace and denial that is still being held newspaper the -- up in the senate and failed the freedom of information act and failed the constitution that is restricted and over all i give him a b plus. >> a plus is pretty hard to get this a democratic country, he is a b plus president, that is a hugely popular president in the philippines and unusual for a man coming to the end of his term or her term coming to be that popular in the philippines. >> it is. b plus for a retiring president is very good especially the democratic and very skeptical country like the philippines. he is popular because he is

sincere and earnest. i think people like him because he is not corrupt and i think he delivered on his promises plus i think he escaped a good legacy with a clean name. so, yeah history will remember him as a popular president. >> seeing lots of protests a few kilometers from where he gave that address, what are they angry about? >> these are just rebel rousers. the leftest will always be angry what ever happens and just want to deny the good projection of history for president. the leftist are looser in the philippines and it's recorded that way. >> it seems that the president is the winner thank you very much for joining us there from singapore. to stock markets and shanghai suffered the biggest one-day decline in more than eight years, in defiance of government efforts for the market and

shanghai plummeted more than 8% and hong kong's benchmark also fell closing over 3% down. falls come as economic days caused sentiment to turn and prophet slipped in the survey of activity and the weakest reading since april of 2014. border guards in bangladesh trying to combat a growing problem with illegal drug smallingly and methamphetamine or yaba as it's known locally is smuggled across myanmar and police seize millions of pills every year and think 90% of the trade is getting through. >> reporter: the 400 border guards on duty here it's a tough act. this 54 kilometer stretch of the river is one of the busiest smuggling zones in the world. a suspect, the guards insist they can smell the methamphetamine on him.

they search his boat for evidence and take him in for questioning questioning. >> translator: it's not possible for us to guard every inch of this border every single second. the smugglers are people on both shores keeping an eye out for our patrols and they are always communicating by mobile phone. >> reporter: most traffickers here look like having fisherman and this one spoke to us on condition of animinity is out on the water as the storm approaches the lawyer of meth money is too strong. >> translator: we are just the middlemen and pay us 250-300 to carry thousands of pills across the border. >> reporter: as they focus on drug traffickers the amount of pills confiscated is rising fast. rehab centers say most of the clients have traditionally been heroin addicts about 60-70% are trying to wean themselves off

yaba. we met one former user a member of the bangladesh upper class who also spoken condition of animity. >> everybody is doing yaba and it's a good chance someone in the building is taking the drug right now and in the next building and the next building. >> reporter: it's a problem that shows no signs of slowing down and as yaba use spreads from the cities to the villages it is leaving in its wake a generation of young people who are struggling to salvage their lives. al jazeera, bangladesh. now known to be a hub for human traffickers in asia but a new report says it improved the record of cracking down on people smuggling and we report why human rights activists disagree. >> reporter: rohinga people go through goods and he and his

pregnant wife fled from ethnic violence in myanmar three months ago but to be trapped by human traffickers who they say starved and tortured them. >> gave us rice and water and when think asked for more they would beat us and give us filthy dishes to ask in and we asked for milk for the children and they told us give them seawater. >> reporter: malaysia is a major hub for people smugglers and made headlines in may after secret trafficking camps and graves were discovered along the border with thailand. >> over the last say, a period of two years we see an increase of about 20 25% of persons involved in human trafficking. >> reporter: but in the latest trafficking and persons report the u.s. state department is expected to upgrade malaysia from the lowest ranking which it was given just last year. the country's tier three status

prevented the u.s. from pursuing a free trade agreement, denying american goods easy access to the booming malaysia market. but with an improved ranking the u.s. can negotiate the so called trans pacific partnership agreement with malaysia and counter china's foot hold in the region. >> thai does influence in asia and it's growing, the asia infrastructure bank and maritime silk roads and it's a way of showing that the u.s. still has influence in the region that it still has a presence. >> reporter: but critics of the policies say the u.s. is ignoring the plight of people like mohamed and his family who are being trafficked and exploited in asia. activists believe there are countless people who are traffic trafficked into malaysia as slave labor and to work in the sex injury and urging the u.s. to use its political clout to

force the government here to take action al jazeera, quala-lumpur. outraged at foreign hunters butchering of one of africa's most famous lions and he was lured out of the national park in zimbabwe and shot with bow and arrow and tracked the cat for hours before shooting him again with a rifle. he was beheaded and skinned corpse was found and paid $55,000 for the chance to hunt lion in zimbabwe and are investigating the incident and searching for the offender. coming up, here on al jazeera inspired by nature this little guy is helping to usher in a few era of soft robotics and irritating irrigation, sprinklers halt an futbol match

and it's not the first time the latest in sports. ♪

were kidnapped... >> this is what's left of the hospital >> is a crime that's under reported... >> what do you think... >> we're making history right now... >> al jazeera america >> investigating a dark ♪ the murder rate in el salvador is at record high 3,000 people have been killed this year and that is up two thirds in the same period last year. and blaming powerful street gangs that agree nated in the u.s. and adam reports from el salvador. >> a common sight in el salvador and at least 33 officers have been killed this year some of the job, most targeted while off

duty. just some of the victims in a wave of killings unseen since the civil war ended in 1992. june saw nearly 700 murders in a nation of six million. the vast majority blamed on criminal gangs. the government's response, more guns more police more patrols. for so long police were the hunters in this violent gang-infested country and now they are prey this female officer buried a close relative on the force, she was 27 the first policewoman ever to be killed in the nation's history. >> translator: . >> reporter: she still walks the beat caring for two families on her one salary. in an exclusive interview a gang

leader wouldn't admit that gangs are responsible for the spike in killings or members ordered to target police. police say there are no death squads but in a change of policy the vice president this year said they should feel free for shoot when threatened and gangs and police say they are under attack. far fewer killings this month than last month, a some that gangs are sending a message they really have the power to control

the violence and now they want to negotiate. >> reporter: but a new truce could prove controversial as the last one agreed in 2012. no negotiating and no end in sight to the killings adam rainy, al jazeera, el salvador. the sport now. >> thank you, one of the fifa executives will be up later and he was president of the football's governing body for over 20 years and we report that the organization is struggling to shake off the scandal even after a final in an important tournament. >> reporter: supposed to be time to shine on the

international stage. it is the final tarnished with the government body caught up in controversy acruised of bribery and corruption despite the focus being off the pitch the game would go on. and decider between mexico and jamaica. captain got mexico in front in the 30th minute with this brilliant volley. then making it 2-0 mexico with the start of the second half. this is the third goal put the results beyond doubt and darren pulled one back for jamaica he would end 3-1 mexico their 7th gold cup title.

but celebrations aside this victory would never be sweet as before. sarah coats, al jazeera. all right, that is all the sport for now, laura. >> a brief look thanks very much and take you now to ethiopia where the u.s. president barack obama and the ethiopian prime minister have speaking at the national palace in africa. >> sitting u.s. president for the first time in the history of our century-long diplomatic relations but again we believe it's fitting and appropriate in the life of the fact that ethiopia is the capitol, the life for african dependence and for all the black people's struggles and the political capitol of africa. ethiopia is the birth place of coffee and we saw many firsts

and as such first historic visit by the first u.s. president of african origin i believe is a well-deserved one. his visit comes at a time when both africa and ethiopia are having impressive growths, making important strengths and double digits grows for the last 1 2 12 years without interrupting. his visit comes at a time we are working hard and improving governance and fighting and security conflicts and terrorism. his visit could not have come at a better time. as the leader of the most powerful nation on earth's and in science and technology and education, africa and ethiopia is in abundance if they are to sustain their growth and president obama visit has a new

height in relations. this morning we have had extensive bilateral discussions with president obama on a range of topics. we have discussed on ways of deepening our by lateral relations and a number of issues. among the areas we have discussed we talked about length about the u.s. support in helping expand trade and investment in ethiopia. as you know the u.s. is ethiopia has a strategic part in it in many fields and steady flow of investment from the united states as much as we have it and the beginning is so encouraging and often been in short supply. we discussed among other things how to encourage u.s. investors to come to ethiopia in large numbers where there are numerous competitive and comparative advantages they can benefit

from. we have discussed how best we can take advantage of president obama's signature powerful initiative which is in our case has already seen significant progress made with a thousand mega watts contract to be signed this afternoon. we are also discussing ways of scaling up the projects and president obama four years ago with his food security program and launching of similar initiatives. we have also discussed an understanding on coordinating our efforts in the global effort to fight climate change and to work together for this access of community first negotiations in paris. likewise we have exchanged ideas on ways the u.s. can champion their action agenda during the negotiations of the sustainable

in new york next september. we have also agreed to work on global health epidemics. we have raised a number of i s how the u.s. can support the strengthening of ethiopia democratic process. my government has expressed its commitment to deepen the democratic process already underway in the country and work towards the respect of human rights and improving governance. we once again say the commission of democracy is real not skin deep. we have both noted that we need to step up efforts to strengthen our institutions and build our capacity in various areas. we believe the u.s. support in this regard as age old democracy will contribute to ensuring that our system becomes robust. we have agreed to continue our

engagement despite minor differences here and there with regard mainly to the speed with which our democratzation process is moving. finally, we have discussed the range of issues related to cooperation on security and peace building in the region and on the role the u.s. can and does play. we have agreed to work closely on south sudan to bring lasting peace to the conflict-ridden country. we both agreed to work together in building peace in somalia but creating institutions and by strengthening the somali security forces in their quest to be in charge of the peace of their own country. we have agreed to intensify the campaign against terrorism in the region and we both noted with satisfaction the progress with forces and somali we are

making with the support of the u.s. and other partners in their fight against al-shabab and agreed to deepen our intelligence cooperation both by laterally as well as regionally and both noted and underscored this cooperation is to curb the menace by terrorism and it's a strong reminder we need to work more in this respect. in conclusion we have agreed to continue working together for better results in all aspects of our cooperation. mr. president, i now call upon you to give your remarks. >> thank you mr. prime minister. good afternoon. prime minister we appreciate your kind words and the welcome you extended to our delegation. we've had very productive

meetings here today. and after our by lateral i had a chance to see the famous lions that live on the grounds. i'm considering getting some for the white house. although i'll have to make sure my dogs are safe. to the people of ethiopia thank you for the warmth and enthusiasm of your welcome in the spirit of friendship you have shown me since i've been here. i'm proud to be the first u.s. president to visit ethiopia and tomorrow the first u.s. president to address the african union so my visit reflects the importance the united states places on our relationship with ethiopia and all the nations and peoples of africa. as you noted ethiopia and the united states share a long friendship. our people have worked together traded with each other and stood alongside one another for more

than 100 years and strengthened by ethiopians every day and true in the nation's capitol washington d.c. with the largest ethiopia community outside of ethiopia. and/or at least outside of africa and we welcome ethiopian students to study in the united states for the young african leaders initiative and helping to empower that with the tools they need to make a difference this their communities. ethiopia hosts one of the largest peace core programs in the world and welcome thousands over the years and the connections between our peoples are both deep and enduring and today the prime minister and i spoke about how we can strengthen the cooperation between our nations. first we are going to continue working together to advance ethiopia's economic progress. ethiopia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and one of the largest economies in africa and we want to sustain

that momentum because a growing and inclusive economy in ethiopia means more opportunities and trade and investment between our nations which in turn helps to create american jobs. but the renewal of the african growth and opportunity act will work to further open american markets to ethiopian products and help expand private sector investment in ethiopia. through our power africa initiative we are working to unlock ethiopia's potential for geo thermal energy with the nation's first private sector agreement and will help the agreement meet its ambitious goal for increaseing electricity and to help develop the rest of the vast renewable sources and stepping up on development where ethiopia has proven itself a global leader. and to the world ethiopia

remains stuck in the past with drought and famin but it has lifted millions out of ofty and working closely to improve food security and farmers to make drought resistant crops and resistance to climate change, fewer people are suffering needlessly from diseases like malaria and more children are getting an education. of course there are too many people particularly in the rural areas living in deprivation. so we have to keep moving on the progress that has been made. prime minister has demonstrated his commitment to eliminating extreme poverty. ethiopia recently hosted the international conference on development which has a global consensus about what the world will deliver on our promises especially to those most in need. your prime minister played a vital role in forging that consensus and ethiopia is now

helping to shape a new sustainable development of goals for the world. third our security cooperation is pushing back against violent extremism. ethiopia faces serious threats and its contribution to the african union in somalia reduced areas under al-shabab control but as the prime minister noted yesterday's bombing in mogadishu reminds us terrorist groups like al-shabab offer death and de destruction and have more work to do and helped to take two al-shabab strongholds and need the pressure on and regarding peace keeping efforts and contributes more troops than any other country in africa and working together to improve the peace keepers to respond to emerging crisis before they go to widespread violence and ethiopia is a key partner

helping to solve the on going crisis in south sudan and later we will meet with leaders across the region to encourage the government and opposition in south sudan to end the violence and move towards a peace agreement. i want to thank ethiopia for helping those who fled south sudan and conflicts throughout the region. finally i would note that everything i have mentioned, sustained and inclusive growth development, secureity gains depends on good governance and we had discussions driven by technology and the internet and continued growth depends on information and open exchanges of ideas. i believe that when all voices are being heard, when people know they are included in the political process that makes our country stronger and more successful and more innovative