Selected Speeches Of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I

ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL AID

....We require knowledge and assistance from abroad; Ethiopia's energies were for long centuries concentrated on her physical protection. The never-ending struggle to safeguard their freedom deprived the nation's youth of the opportunity to study peace instead of war. Today, we require skills and techniques beyond our present capacity to provide, and we look to the assistance of foreign experts and technicians to bridge the gap. So, too, do we look for foreign capital investment and as a natural and normal concomitant, the managers and the professional personnel skilled in the ways of modern industry and business life. With training and education and experience, Ethiopians will in the near future supply all of the needs of the nation. But today, those who are prepared to aid us in our endeavours, who are here at our request and desire, are welcome colleagues and collaborators. Our visits to highly-developed nations abroad have persuaded Us that in this same fashion those countries have adapted and used this experience and learning of others for their own benefit....

November 16, 1965.

Electronic edition created and published online by members of the
Emperor Haile Sellassie First Theocracy Reign
Order of the Nyahbinghi

June 14, 2017