Ethiopia and Japan signed grant agreements amounting to 1.5 billion Ethiopian Birr  Monday, June 10, 2013, in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia's Finance and Economic Development State Minister Ahmed Shide and Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Hiroyuki Kishino signed the agreement.

The fund will be used for rehabilitation of Lumame-Debre Markos road and for financing water projects in Amhara Regional State.

Ambassador Kishino on the occasion said, Japan has been providing support towards success of ongoing development endeavors of Ethiopia. He also recalled the the new support package for Africa amounting to USD 32 billion for the coming five years announced by the Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe at the TICADV Summit held in Yokohama, Japan.

One of the focuses of the latest partnership package is support for improving business environment in Africa by facilitating infrastructure and human resource development, among others.

Ethiopia is one of the beneficiary countries from the package, Ambassador Kishino said.

Source: ENA