Ethiopia to take share in Djibouti Port

According to the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), the deal, which was reached in late April during a visit to Djibouti from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, involved joint facility development, with Djibouti in return having the choice of taking shares in state-owned Ethiopian companies.

There would be a meeting of a joint committee of ministers “to thrash out details”, the news provider said.

Ethiopia, which is a landlocked country and Africa’s second-biggest in terms of population, sees Djibouti handle roughly 95% of all inbound trade for it.

Djibouti had been looking for Port of Djibouti investors after terminating Dubai’s state-owned DP World’s concession to operate the facility two months ago.

Prior to the Ethiopia deal, Djibouti’s government had said the port would stay in Djibouti’s hands until new investors were found.

The Djibouti-Ethiopia agreement comes after Ethiopia made a deal to acquire a 19% stake in the Port of Berbera, located in Somalia’s autonomous region of Somaliland.

DP World retains a 51% share in the facility, with the government holding the remaining stake.