The Ethiopia Government and the World Bank have signed a $730 million corridor project agreement to improve a key route between Addis Ababa and Djibouti.
This was disclosed by the Ethiopia Ministry of Finance on Monday, August 28 in a post on its verified Facebook handle.
The HoA Regional Economic Corridor Project (under Ethio-Djibouti) seeks to enhance the connectivity and logistics performance between the East African countries via the strategic Addis–Djibouti road corridor.
The signed project will finance the construction of 142 kilometres of road from Miesso to Dire Dawa, improving its quality and safety, reducing travel time and costs, and increasing the transport capacity and efficiency.
According to the statement, the route covers more than 90% of Ethiopia’s Maritime trade.
“The project will also support local communities along the road section area by constructing infrastructures to improve access to education, health and water, as well as linking them to the main corridor by constructing secondary roads.” The ministry said.
It added that “the project is part of the HoA Initiative, a regional partnership platform that promotes integration among others, through infrastructure development, linking to one of the priority corridors identified under the Initiatives, the Djibouti- Berbera corridor.”
The Agreement was signed virtually between the Ethiopian Minister of Finance, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Shide, and the Regional Integration Director of the World Bank, Ms. Boutheina Guermazi.
Shide thanked the World Bank for the bold support and reiterated Ethiopia’s commitment to regional integration.
“As a current Chair of the HoA Initiative and Finance Minister, I strongly believe that infrastructure development is essential for achieving long-term growth and stability in our region,” Shide.
Ethiopia, one of Africa’s economies with the highest rate of growth, last month also sought to join the BRICS, a group of developing nations.
The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Meles Alem, had declared that Ethiopia will keep collaborating with organisations on the global stage that can look out for its interests.