The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development signed an agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance to support and finance MSMEs in Ethiopia, at a value of $ 100 million (approximately 368 million dirhams).

According to a statement issued yesterday, the agreement was signed in Addis Ababa by the President of the Fund's Board of Directors, Hussein Jassim Al Nowais, and the Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, Ahmed Sheidi.

Al-Nowais said that «this agreement, which is a continuation of a previous memorandum of understanding between the two parties, last July, comes in implementation of the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, aimed at strengthening cooperation and deepening fraternal relations, Building strategic partnerships with various countries, including Ethiopia, and enabling them to build a stable and sustainable economy that contributes to enhancing the well-being of their children. ”

Al Nowais stressed that the agreement sets a financial and technical framework that provides a package of facilities that contribute to creating new jobs, and enhances the role of women in economic fields, as well as its role in supporting and promoting development efforts in the poorest regions of Ethiopia.

He explained that the agreement provides for directing the loan to the development of remote areas and pockets of poverty in various Ethiopian cities, expected that this loan will contribute to financing about 37 thousand projects over the next four years, and provide more than 200 thousand job opportunities for young people.

Al-Nowais revealed that the loan aims to direct financing to women, provided that the percentage of projects directed to women reaches about 30% of the total number of projects funded through this agreement, and that the rest of the funding is directed diversified between men and women.

For his part, Sheidi praised the efforts of the UAE to support his country's economy, praising the efforts of the Khalifa Fund to develop projects in the field of spreading and promoting the culture of entrepreneurship, and creating the climate for the sector of small, medium and micro enterprises, in many countries of the world, including Ethiopia.