Congratulating the People of Ethiopia on Ethiopia's Second Millennium
Floor Speech
CONGRATULATING THE PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA ON ETHIOPIA'S SECOND MILLENNIUM -- (House of Representatives - November 05, 2007)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in strong support of this resolution.
I first want to thank the gentleman from California, our colleague Mr. Honda, for this resolution congratulating the Ethiopian people for their nation's second millennium. I also commend America's large Ethiopian community, the Committee for the Celebration of the Ethiopian Millennium, and Ambassador Samuel Assefa and his staff for making the celebration in Washington, D.C. a truly memorable event. That celebration brought together the finest Ethiopian artists, musicians, scientists, and scholars from around the world for the purpose of making the event not just a social festival but also a learning experience.
Mr. Speaker, Ethiopia is one of the most fascinating countries in the world. It is a country of great antiquity with a culture and tradition dating back thousands of years. The most recent humanoid remains yet discovered, known as ``Lucy,'' were found in Ethiopia.
Modern-day Ethiopia is a multiethnic country with some 83 languages spoken, most of which belong to four main language groups. It is a multireligious country where for centuries, Christians, Muslims, and Jews have co-existed.
In a region of the country known as Kaffa, Ethiopians in the ninth century discovered what we now know as coffee. Ethiopians still practice a traditional ceremony around coffee, a significant social event of the day for family and community.
Today Ethiopia is an emerging democracy, a leader on the continent of Africa, and a friend to the United States. Ethiopia stood by the American people on September 11 and has continued to cooperate with the U.S. Government and the world community in the fight against terrorism.
I wish to express our gratitude and to extend our best wishes to the people of Ethiopia as their nation observes the beginning of its third millennium.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, we have now concluded six bills that came out of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and I just want to congratulate all the sponsors of the bills and the members of the committee. You can see these bills were all supported with strong bipartisan support. But I want to especially commend the staffs on both sides of the aisle for working very, very hard in getting these bills through.
The very first bill we did was H.R. 1567, which was my bill, the Stop TB Now Act of 2007. And I want to especially commend my legislative director, Emily Gibbons, who was so responsible for this bill. If it wasn't for her, I don't think this bill would have come to its fruition. She was tenacious and was extraordinarily helpful to me in passing this legislation, and this legislation is clearly also a tribute to her fine work.
So I wanted to mention that, and I wanted to again thank my colleague from Arkansas.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source