Ethiopia welcomed the growing interest from additional partners, including the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Saudi Fund for Development, and special envoy representatives from the United States and Japan.
The statement came from Ethiopian Minister of Finance and current Chair of the Horn of Africa Initiative (HOAI), Ahmed Shide, who co-chaired the 20th Ministerial meeting of HOAI along with Victoria Kwakwa, Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, in Washington DC on the sidelines of the World Bank IMF spring meetings.
Ministers of Finance of the Horn of Africa region and development partners including the World Bank, AfDB, EU, Germany, and the UK attended the meeting.
Minister Ahmed also extended a call for some of the observers to formalize their engagement through the HoAI Participation Framework.
Five years into the implementation of HoAI, Minister Ahmed commended the success of this resource mobilization effort while stressing the importance of furthering these endeavors.
The discussions also delved into strategies for bolstering the financing of the remaining lending pipeline, which includes integrating proposals from South Sudan.
He encouraged continued resource mobilization efforts, including topping-up funding for the MDTF as a priority to continue the momentum. He stated, "The HoAI original pipeline of projects is yet to be fully funded compared to the needs. Thus, we need to redouble our resource mobilization efforts."
The Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI), established in 2019, serves as a collaborative platform involving countries in the Horn of Africa, including Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Sudan. With a primary focus on promoting economic integration, the initiative targets priority areas such as infrastructure development, trade facilitation, investment, human development, and resilience.