The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, held a visit to Italy in Rome on Monday where he signed soft loan and grant agreements worth 182 million Euros.
On the occasion of the visit, the Italian President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella welcomed and had a meeting with the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at Quirinale, according to the statement from the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting was also attended by the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani.
Afterwards, The Italian President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, hosted at Palazzo Chigi
the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his delegation for a working luncheon. President Meloni and Prime Minister Abiy signed the joint declaration that will launch the Ethiopian Italian Cooperation
Framework 2023-2025 as it was announced in a joint press statement.
The Ethiopian-Italian Cooperation Framework agreement 2023 – 2025 provides for new initiatives worth of 140 million euros (100 million soft loans and 40 million grant). The document has two main pillars of action: economic development and job creation and access to basic services. Particular importance is devoted to vocational training that will foster job creation, to basic services in particular health, education and water and environment.
During the visit, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani, and the Ethiopian Minister of
Finance, Ahmed Shide, also signed two additional agreements for new programs. “Minimising investment risk in the Ethiopian coffee sector and institutional support to the Ethiopian coffee authority (ECTA)” worth 10.5 million euros will focus on the historical cooperation of Italy on the development of the economic sector and the tradition of Ethiopia on the coffee value chain.
The other initiative, “WaSH, resilience, energy in Ethiopia’s lowlands” value of 31,5 million euros will focus on wash, energy and environment, essential sectors of intervention, with special attention devoted to drought affected areas.
The total amount of the agreements signed in Rome is worth 182 million euros. Such amount is added to other WASH and coffee activities in Ethiopia worth about 4 million euros and a recent approved financing worth more than 13 million euros for three initiatives focused on: strengthening the health system through addressing the social determinants of health (WaSH, nutrition, education, livelihood, gender norms) and on income generating activities focusing on women and vulnerable people with an environmentally sustainable approach. Only in the latest weeks Italy, therefore, financed development initiatives in Ethiopia for a total amount of 200 million euros.