UAE to build pipeline from Ethiopia to Eritrea

12 August 2018
Landlocked Ethiopia is seeking access to the Red Sea to export crude oil

The UAE is planning to build an oil pipeline connecting Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The pipeline will run from Eritrea’s port city of Assab to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian official was quoted in media reports.

Landlocked Ethiopia began extracting crude oil on a test basis from reserves in the country’s southeast in June and will need access through Eritrea in order to export it.

Ethiopian broadcaster Fana first reported the pipeline plan on 10 August following a meeting in Addis Ababa between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE’s minister of state for international cooperation.

The UAE has reportedly played a behind-the-scenes role in helping Ethiopia and Eritrea end a two-decade state of war last month.

Hashimy said after meeting Abiy that the UAE is keen to exploit investment opportunities in Ethiopia, a country of 100 million people with the fastest growing economy in Africa.

The talks were largely on investment in industries, agriculture, real estate, the oil pipeline, and resorts; the opportunities are under study, reports said.

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