Ethiopia has accumulated over $35 million over the past six months from the export of electricity to Sudan and Djibouti, announced Bizuneh Tolcha, who is the Public Relations Director at the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity.
The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted Tolcha as saying on Monday that electricity is the backbone in the development of the economy of his country.
Ethiopia garnered $6.5 million from Sudan, and $18.5 million from Djibouti, which will contribute to alleviating the problems related to the shortage of hard currency, Tolcha added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Public Relations Director at the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, Misiker Negash, said that electric power linkage with neighboring countries helps strengthen good-neighborly relations.
Kenya agreed to buy 400 megawatts of energy from Ethiopia and plans to sell electricity to Tanzania, Negash mentioned, pointing out that Burundi and Rwanda also showed their intention to buy electricity from Ethiopia.
The ENA said that Addis Ababa is currently working to produce more than 17,000 megawatts in their second five-year growth plan, and that the sale of electricity to neighboring countries is done without wasting energy used domestically.
In a related context, an Ethiopian delegation arrived in Khartoum on Monday to participate in Monday’s Sudanese-Ethiopian strategic meeting, which is scheduled to last for three days, to exchange views on political and security issues of mutual concern.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
