President Putin affirms commitment of Russian companies to invest in Ethiopia in various sectors

Addis Ababa, October 18, 2024 (FBC) – President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, met with heads of media of the BRICS member countries. Chief Executive Officer of Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC), Mr. Admasu Damtew attended the meeting with the Russian president representing Ethiopia.

In response to the query raised by Mr. Admasu regarding the ongoing collaboration between BRICS countries, President Putin stated that Ethiopia and Russia have been enjoying a very profound relationship in spiritual, humanitarian and cultural spheres.

“Russia has traditionally deep relations with Ethiopia. We have very good spiritual and humanitarian connections,” the President noted.

“Many of Russian companies show interest in working on the Ethiopian market. These are utility and engineering companies. And I would like all of the plans which we have discussed with the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) to be implemented. On our part, we will be doing everything for this,” President Putin added.

Regarding cooperation in the education sector, the President said that, “Thousands of people from Africa got education in Russia, many of them have held very different posts in their countries after getting education in Russia, which is very pleasing for us. As we have witnessed such pictures at the last Russia–Africa summit in St Petersburg which, I believe, made millions of Russian citizens happy, since our media, television and the internet showed how today’s state officials from some African countries sang Russian songs in fairly good Russian. This is definitely a very powerful cooperation potential – education obtained in a foreign country in a foreign language, especially in the host country’s language. We are continuing this practice to enhance cooperation with countries including Ethiopia.”

Concerning cooperation in the infrastructure sector, President Putin outlined, “We have a lot of projects in this sphere, infrastructure development. The most well-known projects are important and of global nature – this is the North-South project known to many interested colleagues. This is a main railway line from the Baltic Sea and to the Persian Gulf. We are doing this with many of our partners which show interest and are ready to participate in financing this project, among other things. The second very large route is the Northern Sea Route along the Arctic Ocean. A lot of work is being done there. This is a global route, and many BRICS countries show interest in it because it will give major economic benefits when implemented – and we are implementing it. We are doing very much, this is practical work.”

Putin added, “We are building an ice-breaking fleet which is similar to none. Such a nuclear ice-breaking fleet simply does not exist anywhere in the world except for Russia. I believe we have seven nuclear ice-breakers and 34 diesel ice-breakers of a very high class which are powerful and up-to-date. The ice-breaker Leader, as we call it, is under construction, it will break ice of any thickness, absolutely any ice, and it will operate all year round. As a matter of fact, they escort ships, I think, up to nine months a year, therefore this is a very interesting and big project.”