A signing ceremony for three grant agreements was held on 9 June 2011, between the Governments of Japan and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, for 6.567 billion Japanese Yen, [about 1.4 billion Ethiopian Birr] extended by Japan. The agreements were signed by H.E. Mr. Hiroyuki Kishino, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ethiopia and H.E. Ato Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

On the occasion of the signing ceremony, H.E. Mr. Hiroyuki Kishino explained that the agreements were signed for grant aid for the execution of the following three projects:

• Rehabilitation of the Trunk Road, Phase IV [the segment between Dejen and Lumame] with an allocation of 4.158 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 881.1 million Ethiopian Birr];
• 
  Replacement of the Awash Bridge on the A1 Trunk Road with an allocation of 1.201 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 254.5 million Ethiopian Birr];
• 
  Construction of Secondary Schools in the Amhara Region with an allocation of 1.208 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 255.98 million Ethiopian Birr].
  
  

H.E. Mr. Ambassador went on to say that the Growth and Transformation Plan [GTP] is now being implemented for agricultural and industrial development, as these are the GTP’s two main pillars. In order to facilitate development in these two key sectors, however, he said that it is crucial to have well developed economic and social infrastructure and human resources. Road networks are indispensable for both agriculture and industry to develop. The same can be said of human resource development through education. It is for this reason that the Japanese Government decided to support these projects.

Recalling the long standing support to the road transportation development of Ethiopia, H.E. Mr. Kishino assured the gathering that Japan will remain committed to assist the Fourth Road Sector Development Programme which plans to extend the existing road networks both at federal and regional levels from the current 49,000km to about 64,500km in five years.

Similarly, H.E. Mr. Ambassador underlined the crucial importance of the Awash Bridge since most imports and exports of Ethiopia are transported along the Addis Ababa–Djibouti route over this bridge, which is old and has structural problems. Thus, replacing the Awash Bridge is timely and critical to ensure safe traffic flow, thereby enabling commodities, people and information to move faster.

H.E. Mr Kishino continued to note that education is a challenge in Ethiopia while it is the key for sustainable development; backwardness and poverty are fought by producing educated citizens who can play a great role in the country’s economic and social development. In Ethiopia, over the last couple of years, the secondary school enrolment rate made progress with an increase from 27% to 35.6% in the last five years [2004-2008] whereas, in the GTP period, it is planned to raise the secondary school enrolment rate from 39% in 2010 to 62% in 2015.

In order to achieve this target, H.E. Ambassador expressed that Japan remains committed to support secondary education, at this moment financing the Construction of Secondary Schools in the Amhara Region. Under this project, 292 new classrooms will be made available together with school furniture and related equipment.

H. E. Mr. Kishino took the opportunity to recall the previous support of Japan to the road and education sectors as stated below;

• Rehabilitation of Addis-Gohatsion-Dejen Trunk Road, 221 kms together with the construction of the New Abay [Hidassie] Bridge with an outlay of 12 billion Japanese Yen [about 2.4 billion Ethiopian Birr]. Japan has also been dispatching bridge management and maintenance experts as well as landslide experts with construction equipment worth one billion Japanese Yen [about 200 million Ethiopian Birr] to the Ethiopian Roads Authority. 

• Japan has already been engaged in school construction in various Regions with grants of 1.641 billion Japanese Yen [about 347 million Ethiopian Birr]. They include the construction of seven primary and secondary high schools in Addis Ababa with 600 million Japanese Yen [about 127 million Ethiopian Birr] and the construction of thirty eight primary schools in the Oromia Region with 1.041 billion Japanese Yen [about 220.1 million Ethiopian Birr].

Finally, H.E. Mr. Ambassador noted that Japan is reviewing its Official Development Assistance [ODA] policy towards Ethiopia to align it with the GTP. He also emphasized the importance to work together in a better coordination for the economic and social development of Ethiopia.