BRI In My Eyes | Belt and Road Cooperation in My Eyes

Ethiopia is among the first batch of African countries who signed the "Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation Documents" for jointly building the Belt and Road and China supports the country in playing as a bridge for jointly proceeding the cooperation in Africa. 

The "Belt and Road cooperation" between China and Ethiopia aims to increase mutual benefit and economic integrity through infrastructure development, increasing investment, trade, education, cultural exchange, and tourism between the two countries. Ethiopia needs more infrastructure development for improving its global, regional, and local trade and for improving its economic integration through connecting regional cities and neighboring countries to facilitate its regional and global trade. 

The "Belt and Road cooperation" between China and Ethiopia creates a golden opportunity for Ethiopia through attracting more Chinese investment and mobilizing Chinese construction companies involving in the construction sector and establishing manufacturing industries in Ethiopia. As a result, the "Belt and Road cooperation" between China and Ethiopia has been supporting the Ethiopian economic growth through infrastructure development, regional connectivity, employment opportunity, technology and knowledge transfer, education, and cultural exchanges between the two countries. 

Some of the positive outcomes of the "Belt and Road cooperation" between China and Ethiopia are infrastructure development such as completed Ethio-Djibouti railway construction and big highway construction connecting the capital city with big regional cities such as Addis-Adama and Addis-Awassa highways. The completed Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway system constructed by Chinese companies and financial support connects the main port of Djibouti to Addis Ababa, which contributes over 90 percent of Ethiopian imports and exports.

The other successful results of the "Belt and Road cooperation" in Ethiopia are increasing the inflow of Chinese investment in Ethiopia and the establishment of industrial parks by Chinese companies such as the Eastern Industry Zone, the Huajian Industrial Park developed by Huajian Group in Addis Ababa, and the Arerti Industrial Zone constructed by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), and the Dire Dawa Industrial Park developed by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) in the eastern part of Ethiopia. 

The "Belt and Road cooperation" between China and Ethiopia is expected to create more mutual benefits in cooperation through policy making in infrastructure development, trade, education, tourism, and people-to-people connectivity.

Editor's Note: This article is written by Asnake Getie Asmare from Ethiopia, now a PhD Candidate with the School of Economics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and previously studied at Beijing Normal University. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Belt and Road Portal.