European Commission President Von der Leyen Lands in Addis Ababa

(Bloomberg) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made her first official trip to Africa on Saturday with a two-day visit to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and the seat of the African Union.

Europe’s priorities of fighting climate change, the digital world, security and migration are aligned with the interests of Africa, von der Leyen said at a press briefing.

“Today, I have seen already that many of our priorities and interests coincide,” she said. “I am convinced that together we can find answers, together we can find and build solutions that work for Africa and Europe alike.”

Separately, the European Commission gave Ethiopia a 170 million euro ($188 million) grant to support political and economic reforms, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Samuel Gebre in Abidjan at sgebre@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Virginia Van Natta

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