The Minister Finance of Ethiopia Ahmed Shide, reflected on the 8th China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit opened today in Dakar, Senegal indicating that the friendship between the two countries is “based on mutual trust and support”.
“In the past two decades, the FOCAC mechanism has been proven to be an effective and robust platform in promoting China-Africa cooperation by supporting critical infrastructure development to engender greater connectivity, boosting trade activities, stimulating foreign direct investment and creating an enabling environment to unleash entrepreneurship and new local employment opportunities,” he said in his statement.
Below is his full statement-
The successful completion of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway project is one of the early successes of FOCAC in creating a conducive environment for regional integration in Africa and complementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA).
China has been Ethiopia’s biggest trading partner, largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the biggest infrastructure contractor for many years. Under the FOCAC framework, and with the support and assistance from China, several road infrastructure projects are completed with a direct impact on improving commerce and livelihoods of Ethiopians.
The support extended from China has been also instrumental in upgrading and construction of airports, water and power plants, factories and industrial parks. These investments have a profound impact on jobs creation and poverty eradication.
The cooperation between the two countries in the realm of skill development has been instrumental with the realization of the construction of the African Leadership Excellence Academy, the Addis Ababa Riverside Green Development projects and the first and second satellites which were both launched with China’s assistance.
Ethiopia and China have forged important & unwavering friendship and supported each other in this changing world, including in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. With shared belief on mutual benefit, sustainability, inclusive and independent development,
I firmly believe Ethio-China’s all-round cooperation would get stronger via new forms of cooperation, such as digital economy, green development, aerospace and many more new and exciting endeavours.
Important to mention here that our friendship is based on mutual trust and support.
I wish the FOCAC Senegal Summit a huge success!” Ahmed Shide said.