Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), stated that the road connecting Ethiopia to Kenya has raised the trade between the two neighbors by 400 percent.

Noting AfDB’s financial support to Ethiopia’s transport, energy and industrial parks development, said the Bank furthermore funded the road that connects Ethiopia to Mombasa, Kenya’s port city. And this, he emphasized, proved instrumental in uplifting trade ties.

"That road alone has allowed trade between Ethiopia and Kenya to rise by 400 percent and that has also provided Ethiopia with an access to port," Adesina noted.

The Ethiopia-Kenya road has been operational since 2016 and has become a symbolic economic integration tool to the two neighbors, and to the African continent as a whole.

The corridor mainly consists of a 504-kilometre road linking the Kenyan towns of Merille and Turbi, through Marsabit, and an additional 391-kilometre stretch running through Ethiopia linking Hagere-Mariam, Yabelo and Mega.

A major partner of the Ethiopian government, the African Development Bank helped finance the country’s hydropower generation and power transmission line projects, in addition to funding the road linking Hawassa Industrial Park to the Djibouti port.

Describing Ethiopia’s robust infrastructure development, Adesina lauded, "I have never seen any other African country investing more in infrastructure than this country. This is the country that has experienced economic growth rate over 10 percent for over a decade."

Commenting on Ethiopia’s stance as to debt utilization, AfDB’s president insists that “Ethiopia is using debt very well and the quality of debt is very well.” He further remarked, "We do not have any problem with that. What we have got to do is help Ethiopia to diversify its economy and add value to the things it is exporting."

Adesina also praised Ethiopia’s recent decision to move towards opening up the economy and more accentuated privatization. "With the bold move of opening up the economy for private sector, the economy will even grow faster with liberalization," he said.

Adesina reassured AfDB’s financial support to Ethiopia’s development projects, saying the Bank “will invest in transforming Ethiopia's rural economy into zones of economic prosperity."

African Development Bank, AfDB, has the overarching objective of “[spurring] sustainable economic development and social progress” in Africa.

Sources: ENA, Xinhua, AfDB