GERMANY COMMITS €352.5 M FOR ETHIOPIA
addisstandard
Addis Abeba, December 02/2019 – Germany and Ethiopia have agreed to deepen their partnership and have opened a new chapter in their bilateral relationship, a statement from the German embassy in Addis Abeba said. During a bilateral meeting between the two countries Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance and Dr. Gerd Mueller, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, signed a joint letter of intent in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The letter of intent lays the foundation of the new reform partnership between Germany and Ethiopia, said the statement. Accordingly Germany will support Ethiopia’s reform agenda by contributing to the World Bank’s Growth and Competitiveness Program (Development Policy Operation –DPO) the goals of which reflect the central reform priorities of the Ethiopian government. Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance intends to use the planned funding “to strengthen industrial parks, increase tax revenues by improving the tax system and to enhance the investment climate.”
Both countries will also cooperate in the areas of vocational training and economic development “with the goal to strengthen the private sector and create jobs.”A third pillar of the cooperation is in agricultural sector in which Germany will support the strengthening of agricultural value chains, an increase of agricultural productivity and (industrial) processing and marketing. “With all these measures Germany aims to support the Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda of the Ethiopian government,” the statement further said. Read more...
