• Free flow

    Free flow

    An oil pipeline is set to be built by the UAE between Eritrea’s port city of Assab and the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

    The pipeline plans have come about as a direct result of last month’s peace deal between Eritrea and Ethiopia, which ended a 20-year standoff between the neighbouring countries, according to a Reuters report.

    The move comes after landlocked Ethiopia began extracting crude oil in the country’s southeast in June and needed access through Eritrea to export it.

    According to Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE’s Minister of State for International Co-operation, the UAE is eager to explore investment opportunities in the East African nation.

    ‘The peace deal reached between Ethiopia and Eritrea is an excellent opportunity for the UAE to invest in Ethiopia,’ she adds.

    21 August 2018
    Image: Gallo/Getty Images