Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister, Debretsion Gebremichael’s interview with The Africa Report.
The Africa Report: Seven months after the death of late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, how would you describe the state of the nation?
Debretsion Gebremichael: There has been no change in direction – and no reason to change direction. We have a common goal, a common vision. Meles was a great leader, not just as an individual but he was a great party leader and a leader of government. Things will continue as they were even in his absence.
We have not slowed down on anything. We are accelerating infrastructure development.
The Africa Report: Is the financing of big infrastructure projects dragging down the economy?
Debretsion Gebremichael: Since the inception of the Growth and Development Plan, this is one of the challenges we de- tailed. Projects such as the Renaissance Dam were always going to pose big challenges especially to our foreign currency reserves. Strategies have been implemented to address this.
One is trading our local resources; the other is export promotion; and the third is agriculture. We have to work hard for bigger returns. We also have to mobilise the diaspora. They are contributing a significant amount of foreign currency. But because of the big demand for foreign currency, we have to mobilise much more than we were doing previously. Also, we are trying to source loans from abroad on favourable financial terms.
The Africa Report: Are there any projects that are slowing down because of the hard currency shortfall – the railway extension, say, or road construction projects?
Debretsion Gebremichael: I wouldn’t say slowing down as such. As far as the [Renaissance] Dam is concerned, at the moment we are still at the design stage. By its very nature this takes a lot of time. With the railway, we are going to be rolling out over 2,000km.
This will be segmented and we will look for resources around the globe, including private financing and investors we can partner with. But we have not slowed down on anything.
In fact, we are accelerating infrastructure development. What is happening is that we are working on the finer details of each of these projects. These re- quire expertise, which is why we do not seem to be moving as fast as we should.
The Africa Report: Is this where China comes in?
Debretsion Gebremichael: It’s not just China. We are also talking to the South Koreans, the Indians and the Turks. The Turks have taken a chunk of the railway project. The Indians as well. We are engaging with many partners.
The Africa Report: Is there enthusiasm for the East African Community?
Debretsion Gebremichael: Yes, but there are many different interests in the region. We will reach there slowly. But we want to move progressively starting with infrastructure integration. Once we have done that then we will be able to consider bigger objectives.
The Africa Report: When we look at the international order, with your government partnering with the Americans on the counter-terrorism front and at the same time being courted by the Chinese, do you think that Ethiopia and indeed the region are being pulled in two different directions?
Debretsion Gebremichael: I think we can benefit from both sides. We are not being pulled in different directions. Our policy is non-alignment. We are solely interested in changing the lives of our people and that is what influences our external collaborations.
We know that the big powers will try to impose their will on us but we have to maintain the idea that we have our own interests as well. You can live in this world not because of the big powers; you can benefit from all of them. There is no reason to align exclusively with only one of them.
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