<table border="1"
class="jive-wiki-table"><tbody><tr><td>Djibouti
delegation holds talks with President Rayaale and cabinet ministers
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<table border="1"
class="jive-wiki-table"><tbody><tr><td>Written
by Moha Dahir Farah Jire </td>
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<tr><td>Nov 30 2008 </td>
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<tr><td>HARGEISA, Somaliland -A delegation from
Djibouti has promised to give extra consideration towards
recognizing Somaliland as a nation state.
Mr. Hashi Abdilahi, special advisor to President Ismail Omar
Guelleh, said: "After the terrorist attacks in Somaliland, we will
think of what we can do about unstable Somalia, which we have spent
time and energy on dealing with for so long, but is still suffering
without a stable and committed government."
The advisor, who was part of the delegation that spent two
days in Hargeisa, added: "We will definitely work closely with
Somaliland no matter what other Somalis will feel, but I am not
going to say things in advance; you Somalilanders must wait,
bearing in mind that we,Djibouti, are considering the case for
independence."
The delegation was led by the finance minister of Djibouti
Minister, Ali Farah Asowe. He gave an exclusive interview with the
SSI and mentioned that the main aim of their trip was to discuss
areas of mutual interest to both nations and a proposal for a
branch of the third largest French private bank in Hargeisa,
scheduled for January 2009.
He also briefly talked about how the high prices of food and
oil affected their preparations for next year's budget.
He said: "It slowed down the usual thinking of the
preparations, but we have all the funds from the IMF, the World
Bank, the AU, the EU, and so on. I think Somaliland, which is not
getting such assistance, and also had the disaster of the terror
attacks, should be a role model to the Djibouti government and its
people who lost their will towards doing things for themselves and
instead wait for international community's assistance."
The Somaliland minister of finance, Mr.Hussein Ali Duale, who
organized the visit, said: "We are part of Africa, specifically the
horn of Africa, and we welcome all our neighbours."
A Somaliland delegation will go to Djibouti on December 7th
to open trade offices in both countries and further discuss the
opening of bank branches in Somaliland.
The President of Somaliland Dahir Rayaale Kahin held talks on
the last day of the delegation's visit and thanked them for
offering their support to Somaliland during the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks on October 29th.
The Sub-Saharan Informer
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