Ethio-Djibouti Relations Make Leap with New Railway

The 750 km, 3.5-billion-dollar standard gauge railway, connecting Ethiopia’s hinterland with the Red Sea, was officially inaugurated on Wednesday October 5, 2016.

“The Ethio-Djibouti railway will usher in a new era of transportation in Ethiopia’s history,” Hailemariam Desalegn said on the occasion.

“The railway symbolises the re-birth of the historic link between our two peoples,” added Djibouti’s President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, echoing a similar sentiment.

The railway will cut the transportation time to 12 hours between Addis Abeba and the Djibouti port, and boost freight capacity to carry the country’s imports and exports.

The Chinese ExIm Bank funded 70pc of the project, while the Ethiopian government covered the rest. Ethiopia expects the completion of the Awash-Woldia and the Meqelle-Woldia railway projects by 2018.


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