Ethiopia, Japan Sign 4.8 Mil USD Grant Agreement

Addis Ababa, January 26/2021(ENA)Ethiopia and Japan have signed today a grant agreement amounting to 4.8 million USD to support efforts aimed at providing enhanced road operation and maintenance.

State Minister of Finance, Yasmin Wohabrebbi and Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia Ito Takako signed the agreement.

During the occasion, the State Minister said due to the rapid urbanization and increase in the number of vehicles in Ethiopia, the main roads have been severely congested.

Such support would help improve traffic flow, save time, reduce the cost of fuel and road maintenance as well as travel expenses, she added.

 “We will further work to establish various cooperation between our two countries in order to develop the capacity to use sustainable and better asphalt road technologies in Ethiopia,” the state minister said.

Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ito Takako on her part pointed out that the infrastructure sector is one of Japan’s priorities in terms of supporting Ethiopia’s economic development.

According to the ambassador, the government of Japan has been actively supporting Ethiopia with a view to improve the lives of its people through various development schemes particularly in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, industry, education and health among others.

“Japan will continue to support Ethiopia’s development efforts through different Japanese Assistance Projects, as well as other modalities,” she added.

Today’s grant aid will be used to improve road condition by providing asphalt materials for road construction and maintenance activities thereby contributing to improve the economy and access to social services in Ethiopia.