Japan's Abe Eyes Yen Loans for Ethiopia's Geothermal Project

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jan. 13 (Jiji Press)--Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday unveiled his government's plan to consider providing low-interest yen loans for the construction of a geothermal power plant in Ethiopia. Abe showed the readiness at a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Addis Ababa, the capital of the African country. Japan, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, has advanced technologies for geothermal power generation. Abe and Hailemariam agreed to step up the two countries' cooperation, mainly in such fields as the economy and personnel exchanges. They released a joint statement summing up their talks at a press conference. The two confirmed that Japan will provide Ethiopia with environmental technologies while the two countries will cooperate in the launch of a bilateral carbon credit system under which Japan obtains greenhouse gas emission credits in return for its technical assistance to Ethiopia. Abe told Hailemariam that Japanese companies are increasingly interested in Ethiopia's rapidly growing economy. In response, the Ethiopian prime minister stressed his intention to improve the country's distribution system and customs procedures with the aim of attracting greater investment from Japanese companies. Abe highly rated Ethiopia's contribution to peace talks for South Sudan and said that Japan will distribute 11.6 million dollars in aid for Somali and Sudanese refugees. In line with the bilateral meeting, Japan and Ethiopia signed a pact toward the launch of nonstop flight services linking the two countries. Ethiopian Airlines is studying a possibility of opening a direct route between the Asian and African countries. Abe and Hailemariam showed hopes that the planned direct route will help strengthen the two countries' business relations. Abe is visiting Ethiopia on the fourth and final leg of his week-long tour that already took him to Oman, Ivory Coast and Mozambique. END