[Ethiopian Stands with Chinese]Ethiopian Airlines refuses to bow to pressure to halt flight to China

[Daniel808]

China / Society
Coronavirus: Ethiopian Airlines refuses to bow to pressure to halt flights to China

• State-owned carrier’s chief says it wouldn’t be ‘morally acceptable’ to stop flying to the country, and it will stand with its ‘Chinese brothers and sisters’
• Dozens of airlines have cancelled or reduced services to the nation amid the virus outbreak, including two East African rivals

Jevans Nyabiage
22 Apr 2020

Dozens of airlines around the globe have cancelled or reduced their services to cities in the world’s second-largest economy amid fears over the outbreak. Its East African rivals Kenya Airways and RwandAir have both suspended flights to China until the outbreak is contained.

But Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam said the carrier would not abandon the routes, which are among its most profitable.

Tewolde told media over the weekend that the airline had been flying to China since 1973 and it would not be ethical to suspend flights to the country.

“It will not be morally acceptable to stop flying to China today because they have a temporary problem,” he said, adding that the airline would stand with its “Chinese brothers and sisters”.


His remarks came days after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta put pressure on the Ethiopian government – which wholly owns Ethiopian Airlines – to halt flights to China, citing the need to curb the spread of the virus into the East African region.

Global coronavirus deaths equal Sars, while new infections drop. The airline has bucked a trend that has seen major airlines – from the United States to Europe and Asia – staying away from Chinese airspace as governments around the world move to keep the deadly virus from their borders.

Speaking during a visit to Washington last week, Kenyatta – who is keen to court both China and the US – insisted that Kenya’s decision to suspend flights from Guangzhou to Nairobi was not political.

He said most African countries had weak health systems that would make it harder to handle the outbreak, so preventing its spread – even if through extreme measures such as grounding flights – was the only option.


“Our worry as a country is not that China cannot manage the disease. Our biggest worry is diseases coming into areas with weaker health systems like ours,” Kenyatta said while addressing members of US think tank the Atlantic Council.

Vaccine for new coronavirus unlikely to be ready before outbreak is over, says Sars expert
But Ethiopian Airlines said it would continue flying to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hong Kong and was taking measures to protect staff and passengers. Ethiopia receives about 1,500 visitors from mainland China every day.


According to Tewolde, if the airline halted its Chinese services, China and Africa would be completely disconnected.

“No one in Ethiopian Airlines would like to see this,” he said. “We have to take maximum precautions, but stopping flights is not one of them.”

He added: “Even if we stop flying, people will continue to come to Ethiopia through Singapore, Malaysia, Europe. The transmission of the disease will be dangerously hidden … British Airways stopped flying to China for its economic reasons. But Chinese carriers are flying to the UK.”


In a separate statement, the carrier said China was “one of the strongest and one of the oldest markets for Ethiopian Airlines”.

“We have been connecting the great Chinese nation with the entire continent of African for almost half a century and it is our growth strategy,” the airline said, adding that it would continue operating in the five cities in compliance with international aviation and health guidelines.


Aside from seeking to shore up revenues, analysts noted that the airline was under tight state control, and Ethiopia would be reluctant to do anything that might harm its strong bilateral ties with China.

Ethiopia is among the nations on the continent with the highest number of Chinese immigrants. Most of them are workers involved in the construction of infrastructure projects including ports, railways, dams, bridges and malls. Those projects have been financed with billions of dollars in loans from China – Ethiopia is reportedly among the biggest recipients of Chinese lending in Africa.

Last year, China was forced to restructure Ethiopia’s debt after the latter edged closer to defaulting on a loan from Beijing for its standard gauge railway.


Ethiopia, Algeria, Angola, Nigeria and Zambia together accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all Chinese workers on the continent at the end of 2017, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University.

Ethiopia is also a major recipient of direct foreign investment from China.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/soc...an-airlines-refuses-bow-pressure-halt-flights

In Eastern Africa, Ethiopian is one of Chinese closest Ally.
With their Economic booming & Development rate in their country, Ethiopia wil become Economic Powerhouse in Eastern Africa

 

[Daniel808]

This news are not recent, but really worth to read.
I don't know, Chinese and Ethiopian people relations run so deep

Skyscrapers, trains and roads: How Addis Ababa came to look like a Chinese city

Credit: Jenni Marsh/CNN

Skyscrapers, trains and roads: How Addis Ababa came to look like a Chinese city
Written byJenni Marsh, CNNAddis Ababa, Ethiopia



When Wang Yijun put Ethiopia's most expensive real estate project on the market, he experienced a strange phenomenon. People preferred the lowest floors over those with panoramic city views. "Power cuts mean elevators in this city often don't work," explains Wang, the site manager. "So the bottom-floor flats became the most valuable. You won't see this pricing in any Chinese city."

Replicating China's urban model in Africa has its challenges, but with limited developable space in Addis Ababa -- the capital is surrounded by protected farmland -- Wang believes high-rise living, such as Tsehay Real Estate's $60 million Poli Lotus development, is inevitable.

The Poli Lotus estate on the outskirts of Addis Ababa cost Chinese firm Tsehay Real Estate $60 million. Credit: Jenni Marsh/CNN


Theodros Amdeberhan, an Ethiopian lawyer, last year bought a three-bedroom, fifth-floor apartment here for about 3.5 million birr ($127,000). "Local developers never deliver on time," says Amdeberhan. The complex opened in 2016, and so far 70% of lots have sold. "When Mr Wang offered me a good price, I didn't hesitate," he says.

With red lanterns swaying over its entrance, the palm-tree peppered compound of 13 towers could easily be in Shenzhen, Chongqing or the suburbs of Shanghai. It's the sort of Chinese-ification that permeates much of Addis.

The Metro train passes through central Addis Ababa. Credit: Jenni Marsh/CNN


Cars chug through the city on smooth Chinese roads, Chinese cranes lift the skyline, sewing machines hum in Chinese factories in Chinese-owned industrial parks, tourists arrive at the Chinese-upgraded airport and commuters ride modern Chinese trains to work.

Simply put, Addis Ababa is becoming the city that China built -- but at what diplomatic and economic cost?


A city without addresses

Located 2,355 meters above sea level, Addis Ababa is one of the highest capitals in the world. Officials say 2.7 million people call it home, but that's based on a census from 2007. The real number is surely far bigger. Few buildings here have addresses, so taxi drivers operate by landmarks.

And because Ethiopia was never colonized, barring a brief Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941, Addis lacks the European infrastructure that underpins many African metropolises. "It was never planned to be a city," says Alexandra Thorer, an architect who lived in Addis as a child, and wrote her thesis on the city's urbanization.

Old Addis - New Addis
Credits: Jenni Marsh/CNN. Jenni Marsh/CNN


By the turn of the 21st century, Addis' population had swelled and its dirt roads badly needed upgrading.
At the same time, China was pursuing stronger ties with African nations -- in 2000, Beijing held the inaugural Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, now a triennial deal-making pow wow.

The Ethiopian government saw China as a model for development and courted it for infrastructure, says Ian Taylor, a professor in African political economics at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland.

A sign outlining the plan for Chinese constructed roads in Addis Ababa. Credit: Jenni Marsh/CNN


In two decades, the Chinese provided Addis with an $86 million ring road, the Gotera Intersection ($12.7 million), Ethiopia's first six-lane highway ($800 million), and the Ethio-Djibouti Railway line ($4 billion), which connects the landlocked country to the sea, to cite a sprinkle of projects. The speed at which Addis grew, says Thorer, mirrored the pace of 21st-century urban explosion in China.

China also built the first Metro system in Sub-Saharan Africa in Addis. Its two lines cut through the heart of the city, and carry at least 30,000 passengers an hour, who pay 6 birr ($0.30) a ride. "I thought it would fail quite quickly," says Thorer, "but actually it's really well used."

"Addis has been radically transformed," says Taylor. "Huge skyscrapers are changing the whole profile of the city." A 46-story glass tower will be the tallest in Ethiopia when finished in 2020 by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

The Chinese-built African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in August 2018. Credit: Jenni Marsh/CNN


The city's most symbolic skyscraper is, of course, the futuristic African Union (AU) headquarters. Gifted to Addis by Beijing in 2012, the $200 million structure resembles nothing in Ethiopia.
"I didn't realize how Chinese it was until I went to China," says Janet Faith Adhiambo Ochieng, communications officer at the African Union. "Then I was like: 'Wow.'"


Getting in the red

In the early 2000s, Irish singer-songwriter Bono was part of a chorus of celebrities asking Western countries to cancel African debt, which was costing some governments three times more than healthcare.
When the G8 agreed to waive $55 billion from mostly African accounts in 2005, Bono called it "a little piece of history." Fast forward a decade, and Africa owes China about $130 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative -- money which has mainly been used to fund transport, power and mining projects.

The continent lags behind other developing regions in virtually all infrastructure sectors, be it electricity, road or railroad performance. "Western companies and organizations such as the IMF and World Bank weren't offering money for that type of stuff," Taylor says.

The light rail train arrives / Inside the packed train
Credits: Jenni Marsh/CNN. Jenni Marsh/CNN


China's credit line to Africa has provoked criticism. Earlier this year, Rex Tillerson, then US Secretary of State, said that China's "predatory loan practices" in Africa "mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty, denying them their long-term, self-sustaining growth."
Ethiopia has taken at least $12.1 billion from Chinese creditors since 2000. But overall the country is $29 billion in the red -- it owes more collectively to the Middle East, the World Bank and others than to China. The same is true for the majority of African countries.
A report published this month by the Johns Hopkins SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative found that Chinese loans are "not currently a major contributor to debt distress in Africa."

"We're emerging into a new phase of a China-centric world order," says Solange Chatelard, academic and research associate at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. "The former hegemonic powers are having a hard time adjusting to their decline."

Lina Benebdallah, assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University, North Carolina, however, cautions that the China-Africa relationship is "asymmetric." In 2016, for example, China exported $88 billion in goods to Africa, but only imported $40 billion from the continent.

And there are countries with worrying amounts of Chinese debt. In Djibouti, China holds 77% of national debt, while Zambia's $6.4 billion in Chinese loans represents the lion share of its commitments. A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told CNN via email that China has paid "high attention" to African debt situation, and is dedicated to "sustainable development."


Twisting Ethiopia's arm?
One of the big concerns around Chinese loans is debt-trap diplomacy -- the idea that Beijing will pressure countries that can't pay into exploitative deals.
At the imposing prime minister's office building in Addis Ababa, Arkebe Oqubay, a senior government minister, is adamant that Ethiopia hasn't seen any arm-twisting from China. "One of the unique things that makes Chinese funding quite attractive is they practice non-intervention in local politics," he says.

Government minister Arkebe Oqubaby at the prime minister's office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Jenni Marsh/CNN


And Beijing has been demanding that African nations cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, under its "One China Policy," for decades he says -- debt or no debt.
Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, sees it differently. He cites the example of Sri Lanka as the "canary in the coal mine."

In 2010, Beijing invested $1.5 billion to build the Hambantota port. When Sri Lanka couldn't repay the debt, it signed a 99-year lease of the port with a Chinese state-owned company to service some of the billions it owed.
"If developing countries do not pay greater attention to how they manage their debt with China, we're going to see a growing number selling off large stakes in key sovereign assets," Patey says.

Urban sprawl / Urban planning
Credits: Jenni Marsh/CNN. Jenni Marsh/CNN


Another concern is national security. Earlier this year, French news outlet, Le Monde, alleged that Beijing had spied on the African Union through the computer systems it helped install. China's foreign ministry said the report was based on "groundless accusations" and the AU disregarded the allegations as "baseless." But the rumors raised eyebrows, as China builds symbolic political facilities across Africa.

"The Germans could have bugged that building," Ochieng says, pointing to the far more modest Peace and Security facility Angela Merkel's government gifted the AU in 2016. "But will the story that the Germans are watching Africa sell as well?"

The Peace and Security facility Angela Merkel's government gifted the AU in 2016. Credit: Jenni marsh/CNN

When Western powers see a city like Addis Ababa awash with Chinese influence, there is the knee-jerk reaction that "China has an ulterior motive," says Benebdallah. But it's often the case, says Taylor, that Chinese companies don't face Western competition for construction contracts. Once Chinese firms have shipped their equipment, they may as well stay put and capitalize.

For Patey it's not that simple. When China finances roads, railways, and hydropower dams, he says, it stipulates that Chinese construction companies build them with Chinese concrete and steel. "Africa has served as a launching pad for Chinese ... companies to gain overseas experience," he adds. "It's where China Inc cuts its international teeth."

A MOFA spokesperson told CNN via email that Chinese companies in Africa operate "independently" and that the Chinese government is "committed to equal negotiations," and had no interest in "lecturing countries."

The Poli Lotus complex / Inside an apartment
Credits: Jenni Marsh/CNN. Jenni Marsh/CNN


On a Friday afternoon at Poli Lotus, Theodros Amdeberhan's teenage son plays FIFA on the wide-screen TV, while the maid roasts coffee and a picture of the Eiffel Tower hangs over the sofa in their Chinese-built apartment.

When asked how he feels about the Chinese molding Addis Ababa in their country's own image, Amdeberhan says: "I once went to China and noticed that they have this way of building city centers that can incorporate all the needs of the people." With the higgledy piggledy chaos of unplanned Addis just beyond his window, he says it's an appealing concept.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/addis-ababa-china-construction-style/index.html

 

[Daniel808]

Ethiopia and the Chinese dream in Africa

Chinese firms were involved in building the Addis Ababa-Adama Expressway in Tulu Dimtu
By Jackie Fox


Ethiopia’s capital is a work in progress. Almost 8,000 feet above sea level, the constant hustle and bustle leaves a distinct industrial taste of fumes and dust.

Addis Ababa's streets are flooded with cars, while bamboo scaffolding props up ambitious construction projects. The city is transforming, with flimsy metal shops looking up at new skyscrapers.

However, an unexpected sight is the view of Chinese banners that curtain many floors of the buildings.

The symbols are a striking feature against the backdrop of building and a constant reminder about the Asian country’s influence.

With a population of more than 100 million, Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country and it has become a leading investment destination in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for China.

China is Africa's biggest trading partner, according to Padraig Carmody, Associate Professor in Geography at Trinity College Dublin.

"We’ve really seen a deepening of involvement of China on the continent particularly related to new infrastructure investment projects," he said.

In particular at the horn of the continent, Chinese investment has drastically increased over the last two decades, aiding industrialisation and broader economic development.

Along with the Chinese script engulfing floors of buildings, their companies are flourishing below. According to a major study in China-Africa relations, at current growth rates, China will be Africa’s largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) stock within the next decade.

The communist country has helped build new dams in Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria, railways in Kenya, Chad and Djibouti, and roads across Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique.

These Chinese projects in developing countries are part of China’s Belt and Road initiative to create major connectivity through huge rail and road infrastructure projects around the world.

The country is hosting its second Belt and Road summit this week, where almost 40 foreign leaders will attend to talk about their massive projects.

Infrastructure aside, China has also set its sights on winning over African citizens with technological advances. Chinese mobile phone maker Tecno has taken over Apple and Samsung to be one of the most popular phone brands in Ethiopia.

The company has made cheap phones that have been tailored for African customers with special software better designed to capture darker skin tones for selfies.

It was also the first major phone brand to introduce a keyboard in Ethiopia’s official language, Amharic.

The Horn of Africa has been a major beneficiary of Chinese investment. In Ethiopia, China has funded its $475m light railway system in the capital and a $86m ring road.

The country has financed other key infrastructure too, helping to add more than 50,000km of new roads since 2000.

Importantly, it has also built the 750km Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway, at a cost of $3.4bn, which opened in 2016. Around 70% of the funds were provided by China’s Exmin Bank.

Ethiopia has even appointed Chinese-speaking liaison officers to facilitate investments from the Asian country.

A McKinsley report in 2017 showed that the growth in Chinese investment has been uniformly high, at an average growth rate of more than 52% a year in Ethiopia.

The study found that there are more than 10,000 Chinese-owned firms operating in Africa, with around 90% of them privately owned.

To pay for all of these major developments, Ethiopia has taken out massive loans from China, with state policy banks extending it to more than $12.1 billion since 2000, according to the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University of the United States.

There is no escaping the level of Chinese interest and building, but there is also no ignoring the stumbling blocks that Ethiopia has hit. These opportunities have come at a high price with worries about the sustainability of the country.



Ethiopia does not have enough money or time to pay China. The African nation has racked up tens of billions of dollars of debt, with reports that about half of Ethiopia’s external debt is owed to China, with government debt standing at 59%.


Over the past year, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has opened negotiations with China to restructure previous deals. In September 2018, he reached an agreement with the Asian country to restructure the repayment period of loans from ten to 30 years.

As a result, Ethiopians are cautious of future loans from China, as lenders tend to also acquire collateral of resource and possibly some sort of land, said Dr Niall Duggan, lecturer in the Department of Government and Politics at UCC.

Mr Duggan said that the government is now aware that this could put some Ethiopian land into the ownership of Chinese banks.

The issue has raised questions about China’s deepening involvement in developing countries and the conditions of its major investment. Critics say it is a debt trap for poor nations who are desperate to industrialise.

Mr Carmody said that even though he believes China is "not deliberately" trying to entrap countries into debt, he said it is clear that China is pursuing its own interests and debt is being used strategically with the long-term vision of "securing economic and political access and influence".

The Chinese government though has pushed back at critics who say it is saddling Africa with debt. Beijing-based journalist Yvonne Murray said it believes its involvement in Africa is about mutual cooperation and prosperity.

President Xi Jinping last year pledged to invest a further $60bn in the African continent and there is no doubt that this injection of Chinese funds has stimulated economic growth in many African countries and modernised some key industries that they were desperate for.

Loans are one concern but how China is incorporating Ethiopian citizens into its plans is another. One of those involved in the EU business forum in Ethiopia, which aims to help operations for EU companies doing business in the country, said one of the "major issues" for Ethiopians is jobs.

"You don’t see a lot of the Chinese investments for activities promoting a lot of job development for Ethiopians," said Deedee Atsumi-Sarno.

On the ground, the irritation around that opinion is clear and it is visibly leaking after years of a honeymoon period of welcome industrialisation. One woman complains that many Ethiopian university graduates are sitting at home as big countries roll in with their own workers.

She points out that citizens could learn new technologies and skills from them, developing not only the infrastructure but their livelihoods, but this is not happening to the extent that it should.

Almost half of Chinese companies source from local firms, according to McKinsley.

On another dusty street of the city, another man echoes the worries that not enough is being done to incorporate Ethiopians into the building of the country.

As someone who travels around the Horn of Africa for work, he questions the sustainability of these much needed projects. With a sigh, he claims the roads are already deteriorating.

It is something that is one the European Commission’s radar too.

"It is true that here in Ethiopia our Ethiopian friends are telling us that ‘Hmmm, these roads are not lasting... can you come and repair them?’" said the European Commission's Directorate-General for International cooperation and Development.

Stefano Manservisi admitted that "fair competition" and "quality work" is of importance and there needs to be a level playing field for the benefit of African nations.

Even though the European Commission welcomes China's investments, it has a word of warning for the way in which they do business abroad.

"We don’t talk enough," Mr Manservisi said at the European Commission’s Ethiopian HQ in Addis Ababa. If they did talk enough, he called on China to work together with them on infrastructure, capacity building, good governance, transparency and affordable debt and loans.

"We have the impression that there is a new wave to public debt which is hampering mainly African countries and we’d like to avoid one day, that we will be called to pay to cover this debt," he said.

It is clear that Ethiopia is on the way up. However, it’s obvious that many are already growing tired of foreign power, while anxiously waiting for a new dawn of opportunities.

Will it be a sentiment that is reflected at the second summit of the Belt and Road initiative? Will developing nations express concern at China’s escalating influence or remain mum for the sake of more investment? We’ll wait and see.

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2019/0423/1045064-ethiopia-china/

Kudos for Ethiopian people in their Economic Development







Even their Security Forces who guard The Strategic Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, Trained by Chinese Police Department Congrats for Both coutnries

 

[Song Hong]

We should start a thread on China developing Africa, on individual countries....Ethiopia, Angola, Sudan....etc

 

[Daniel808]

Logistics company starts intermodal operation

By
Muluken Yewondwossen
-
April 26, 2020
MACCFA Freight Logistics announced that it will accelerate the intermodal operation it started recently as it has managed to import its third shipment this week under a new solution in a month’s time. The company, which is one of the major logistics operators in the country, concluded the first intermodal solution few weeks back. The first scheme end to end logistics service provided for Unilever Ethiopia is that the utilization of a full block train arrangement from Djibouti containers terminal (SGTD) to the Indode Railway station yard, located at the southeast outskirt of Addis Ababa.

The modern electric railway that connects the central part of Ethiopia with ports in Djibouti is operational for about two years, while mostly Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) is using the facility to transport cargos via the line to the dry port at Mojo, which is the facility that provides for multimodal operation that is a monopoly for ESLSE. The line is also to some extent transporting bulk cargos like wheat and fertilizer that is mostly transported by the stated owned ESLSE. Experts said that due to the stated reason above the private freight forwarders could not use the intermodal solution and transport cargos at Mojo. Until recently most of the private logistics firms are using the railway system for export sector like products from industry parks. Since Indode has become operational the private sector, who is uni-modal operator, has got a chance to transport cargos in the central Ethiopia by using the railway system under the intermodal scheme, which required to transport at least massive containerized cargos since the movers are leasing the full space at the railway.

The first scheme end to end logistics service provided for Unilever Ethiopia is that the utilization of a full block train arrangement from Djibouti containers terminal (SGTD) to the Indode Railway station yard, located at the southeast outskirt of Addis Ababa. The modern electric railway that connects the central part of Ethiopia with ports in Djibouti is operational for about two years, while mostly Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) is using the facility to transport cargos via the line to the dry port at Mojo, which is the facility that provides for multimodal operation that is a monopoly for ESLSE. The line is also to some extent transporting bulk cargos like wheat and fertilizer that is mostly transported by the stated owned ESLSE.
Experts said that due to the stated reason above the private freight forwarders could not use the intermodal solution and transport cargos at Mojo. Until recently most of the private logistics firms are using the railway system for export sector like products from industry parks. Since Indode has become operational the private sector, who is uni-modal operator, has got a chance to transport cargos in the central Ethiopia by using the railway system under the intermodal scheme, which required to transport at least massive containerized cargos since the movers are leasing the full space at the railway.

“Indode was available in the intermodal scheme and you have to fully contract the train and need to have at least 100 containers cargo at a time due to that the private sector activity in the modality is very limited,” Mulugeta Assefa, CEO of MACCFA said, “because of that you have to mobilize the cargos to transport at once.” In these recent weeks very few companies developed their capacity and launch the scheme. “Now we organized the volume and commence the transportation under intermodal solution, which allowed us to cease using trucks and transport huge amount of cargo at a time by rail,” the CEO said. He added that the station yard at Indode Station is very small and due to that the cargo should relocate at the final destination within three days. That means it should have mobilized ample trucks to transport the cargos from the yard after the accomplishment of customs clearing shortly. Under intermodal solution MACCFA has achieved its third shipment on Thursday April 23.“ According to our plan we will undertake similar intermodal operation on a weekly base,” he added.

Besides eco friendly benefit since the rail is electric, the intermodal operation has a benefit to cut the number of trucks assigned to transport containers that the process may take couple of weeks to deliver at the customer yard. The intermodal operation only takes a maximum of four days, according to experts. At the same time the trucks will be idle since they are engaged on the internal distribution. “In terms of security regarding theft and safety such kind of scheme has best value,” Mulugeta said. “Even though the service is undertaken by MACCFA, who has partnership with the French logistics giant CMA CGM, the French company is one of the source for the volume,” the CEO said. MACCFA signed a memorandum of understanding with CMA CGM, owned by CEVA Logistics, for the foreign company to take 49 percent stake from MACCFA. Freighters International and CLS Logistics Services are the other two freight forwarding companies engaged on the intermodal operation so far. Intermodal transportation is the use of two or more modes, or carriers, to transport goods (freight) from shipper to consignee.
https://www.capitalethiopia.com/featured/logistics-company-starts-intermodal-operation/

It's your own choice to make your country develop or become a shithole @Nike

@Viva_Viet @Nilgiri

 

[Song Hong]

China settling loose "debt trap" again.

*****************

Chinese firm to construct Ethiopia-Djibouti natural gas pipeline

Chinese firm Poly-GCL Petroleum Group Holdings Limited (Poly-GCL) is to construct the 767-km Ethiopia-Djibouti natural gas pipeline, the Ethiopia Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) announced on Saturday.

In a press statement, MoMP said Ethiopian and Djiboutian government officials have agreed that Poly-GCL will start the natural gas pipeline project construction this year.

Both countries hope to earn much needed foreign currency once the natural gas pipeline project is constructed and commissioned.

The Ethiopian government had back in April announced plans to generate 1 billion U.S. dollars annually from extraction of natural gas and crude oil deposits.

Poly-GCL is expected to install a pipeline to transport the gas from fields in landlocked Ethiopia up to ports in neighboring Djibouti in a period of two years. Around 700 kilometers of the natural gas pipeline will be located in Ethiopia, while the rest of the natural gas pipeline will be located in Djibouti.

Recently, Poly-GCL discovered 7 to 8 billion cubic trillion feet of natural gas in Ethiopia's Somali regional state located in the eastern part of the country.

Poly-GCL is a mixed ownership clean energy company engaged in exploration and development, storage and transportation and processing, trade marketing and terminal utilization.

 

[Viet]

Chinese dream in Ethiopia

In a chinese run shoe making factory female workers receive 25 euro. Per month.

at least workers receive free meals per day.

 

[Daniel808]

We should start a thread on China developing Africa, on individual countries....Ethiopia, Angola, Sudan....etc

Good idea
If I have free time, I will make thread about that Individual countries.

Especially for the countries who have big potential in Economic Development and have Good relations with China

Like Ethiopia, Algeria, Egypt, Namibia, Kenya, Senegal, Angola, Mozambique, and many more

Chinese dream in Ethiopia

In a chinese run shoe making factory female workers receive 25 euro. Per month.

at least workers receive free meals per day.

At least, Chinese did Concrete things to help ordinary Ethiopian people feel the benefits and lifting their standard of lives

It's much better than your barking, critics, shaming, trolling, or even sweet words

You can say 1,000x sweet words to them, Ethiopia amazing, I love ethiopia bla bla bla.
But that's mean NOTHING, if you don't bring Concrete things like Chinese did to Ordinary Ethiopian people

Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit build with Chinese and Ethiopian people Cooperation

 

[vi-va]

Ethiopian is good, but their civil war is coming. Not positive. Sad.

 

[Song Hong]

Not easy for full blown civil war to flare up unless there is foreign sponsorship.

Civil war, genocide, color revolution are old trick of USA and west to take down unfriendly government.

Ethiopian is good, but their civil war is coming. Not positive. Sad.

 

[vi-va]

Not easy for full blown civil war to flare up unless there is foreign sponsorship.

Civil war, genocide, color revolution are old trick of USA and west to take down unfriendly government.

Bro, check Ethiopian demographic map, and parties faction. You will see, it's quit risky now.

 

[Song Hong]

Any state pivoting towards China will experience this.

Hence China needs larger PLA expeditionary forces.

Bro, check Ethiopian demographic map, and parties faction. You will see, it's quit risky now.

 

[rott]

China / Society
Coronavirus: Ethiopian Airlines refuses to bow to pressure to halt flights to China

• State-owned carrier’s chief says it wouldn’t be ‘morally acceptable’ to stop flying to the country, and it will stand with its ‘Chinese brothers and sisters’
• Dozens of airlines have cancelled or reduced services to the nation amid the virus outbreak, including two East African rivals

Jevans Nyabiage
22 Apr 2020

Dozens of airlines around the globe have cancelled or reduced their services to cities in the world’s second-largest economy amid fears over the outbreak. Its East African rivals Kenya Airways and RwandAir have both suspended flights to China until the outbreak is contained.

But Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam said the carrier would not abandon the routes, which are among its most profitable.

Tewolde told media over the weekend that the airline had been flying to China since 1973 and it would not be ethical to suspend flights to the country.

“It will not be morally acceptable to stop flying to China today because they have a temporary problem,” he said, adding that the airline would stand with its “Chinese brothers and sisters”.


His remarks came days after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta put pressure on the Ethiopian government – which wholly owns Ethiopian Airlines – to halt flights to China, citing the need to curb the spread of the virus into the East African region.

Global coronavirus deaths equal Sars, while new infections drop. The airline has bucked a trend that has seen major airlines – from the United States to Europe and Asia – staying away from Chinese airspace as governments around the world move to keep the deadly virus from their borders.

Speaking during a visit to Washington last week, Kenyatta – who is keen to court both China and the US – insisted that Kenya’s decision to suspend flights from Guangzhou to Nairobi was not political.

He said most African countries had weak health systems that would make it harder to handle the outbreak, so preventing its spread – even if through extreme measures such as grounding flights – was the only option.


“Our worry as a country is not that China cannot manage the disease. Our biggest worry is diseases coming into areas with weaker health systems like ours,” Kenyatta said while addressing members of US think tank the Atlantic Council.

Vaccine for new coronavirus unlikely to be ready before outbreak is over, says Sars expert
But Ethiopian Airlines said it would continue flying to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hong Kong and was taking measures to protect staff and passengers. Ethiopia receives about 1,500 visitors from mainland China every day.


According to Tewolde, if the airline halted its Chinese services, China and Africa would be completely disconnected.

“No one in Ethiopian Airlines would like to see this,” he said. “We have to take maximum precautions, but stopping flights is not one of them.”

He added: “Even if we stop flying, people will continue to come to Ethiopia through Singapore, Malaysia, Europe. The transmission of the disease will be dangerously hidden … British Airways stopped flying to China for its economic reasons. But Chinese carriers are flying to the UK.”


In a separate statement, the carrier said China was “one of the strongest and one of the oldest markets for Ethiopian Airlines”.

“We have been connecting the great Chinese nation with the entire continent of African for almost half a century and it is our growth strategy,” the airline said, adding that it would continue operating in the five cities in compliance with international aviation and health guidelines.


Aside from seeking to shore up revenues, analysts noted that the airline was under tight state control, and Ethiopia would be reluctant to do anything that might harm its strong bilateral ties with China.

Ethiopia is among the nations on the continent with the highest number of Chinese immigrants. Most of them are workers involved in the construction of infrastructure projects including ports, railways, dams, bridges and malls. Those projects have been financed with billions of dollars in loans from China – Ethiopia is reportedly among the biggest recipients of Chinese lending in Africa.

Last year, China was forced to restructure Ethiopia’s debt after the latter edged closer to defaulting on a loan from Beijing for its standard gauge railway.


Ethiopia, Algeria, Angola, Nigeria and Zambia together accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all Chinese workers on the continent at the end of 2017, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University.

Ethiopia is also a major recipient of direct foreign investment from China.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/soc...an-airlines-refuses-bow-pressure-halt-flights

In Eastern Africa, Ethiopian is one of Chinese closest Ally.
With their Economic booming & Development rate in their country, Ethiopia wil become Economic Powerhouse in Eastern Africa

Smart move. The passengers who wants to go to China will definitely move over to Ethiopian airlines. They will fly full then.

 

[vi-va]

Any state pivoting towards China will experience this.

Hence China needs larger PLA expeditionary forces.

This is mostly due to their own weakness. The demographic.

Before end of cold war, they are socialism. Then overthrew by CIA I guess after cold war. Ethiopia became Parliamentarism, but the ruling party is ethnic federalist political coalition.

That's reason of civil war. And the west just take advantage of it and seeking opportunities.

The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia. The EPRDF consisted of four political parties, namely Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM). After leading the overthrow of the Communist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2019.

You see Amhara and Oromia, it's quite dangerous now.

 

[Viet]

Good idea
If I have free time, I will make thread about that Individual countries.

Especially for the countries who have big potential in Economic Development and have Good relations with China

Like Ethiopia, Algeria, Egypt, Namibia, Kenya, Senegal, Angola, Mozambique, and many more




At least, Chinese did Concrete things to help ordinary Ethiopian people feel the benefits and lifting their standard of lives

It's much better than your barking, critics, shaming, trolling, or even sweet words

You can say 1,000x sweet words to them, Ethiopia amazing, I love ethiopia bla bla bla.
But that's mean NOTHING, if you don't bring Concrete things like Chinese did to Ordinary Ethiopian people

Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit build with Chinese and Ethiopian people Cooperation
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Looks good on pictures no question
But how Ethiopia can pay back the debts?

This rail is said costs 4.5 billion USD. The revenue is 3 million USD in the first 9 months of operations. Little money. They can’t even pay the electricity and staffs.

People don’t have the money to use this luxurious chinese trains.

No surprise when you pay workers 25 euro per month.

They can’t even pay daily meals if not free meals from factories.

You even ruin the livelihoods of shoe workers in Bangladesh with so little pay.