Djibouti aspires to become global ICT cente
Djibouti, Djibouti (PANA) – African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina has received Djibouti’s highest honour of ‘Commandeur dans l’ordre national.’
Djiboutian Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed presented the honour to Adesina at the weekend during the AfDB chief’s visit to the East African country where he also met with President Ismail Omar Guelleh and senior government officials to discuss Djibouti’s economic progress and opportunities.
Djibouti is largely dry and barren. Its population of nearly one million people relies on imported food. Its Red Sea port remains the main source of income and employment. It is also a gateway for landlocked neighbouring Ethiopia.
Adesina said: “Djibouti needs to look beyond the port, diversify its economy and scale up development. Flying over the country, one sees huge tracts of dry land. But it is only when one meets and talks to the people in this country that one realizes, there is no drought in terms of ideas, creativity, passion and determination.”
President Guelleh thanked Adesina for his first visit to Djibouti and commended the African Development Bank for its multifaceted assistance to the country.
“You are supporting us in various areas, including the budget support that the Bank is providing to help our country meet the unexpected effects of the Covid-19 crisis. We welcome your support to Djibouti by focusing on energy, climate change, agriculture and transport infrastructure resilience.”
Djibouti was invited to consider joining the Bank Group’s Africa Disaster Risk Finance facility (ADRiFi), through which countries receive support to insure themselves against extreme weather events. The facility is already helping nine countries pay for insurance premiums to protect themselves from the effects of climate change.
According to an AfDB statement, the Horn of Africa country could benefit from the introduction of the Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation programme, which uses heat-resistant wheat and water-efficient maize varieties to increase farm productivity.
Djibouti could also consider hydroponics method that uses a water-based solution instead of soil to grow crops. Adesina said this could save Djibouti from relying on food imports.
The Bank chief—who on Saturday toured a subsea cable landing station—said Djibouti had the potential to become a regional centre of excellence in telecommunication. Djibouti Telecom has two subsea cable landing stations serving more than 50 telecommunication operators with connections to over 90 countries in the world.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Djibouti will further help to connect Africa to the rest of the world, and also become a global centre with data centres,” Adesina said, adding: “I definitely see a ‘Djibouti Beyond Ports,’ a nation that should move itself to becoming an ICT hub globally.”
The AfDB Group chief also toured one of Djibouti’s interconnection substations for power imported from neighbouring Ethiopia. The African Development Bank invested $60 million in the first interconnection with Ethiopia, to transmit a total of 320 megawatts.
Djibouti has approached has approached the Bank for a similar investment to distribute an additional 320-megawatt line from Semera in Ethiopia to Nagad in Djibouti, a distance of 192 kilometres.
Adesina said Djibouti needed uthorities diversified power generation system and encouraged the government to invest in wind and solar power.
The AfDB has provided $20 million for geothermal exploration around Lake Assal region. The drilling and testing of the project have been completed.
The Bank is discussing with Djiboutian authorities the construction of the first solar plant that will generate 15 megawatts of power. It will be part of the Bank-funded $20 billion Desert-to-Power initiative, which will deliver electricity to 250 million people across 11 countries.
Adesina said that with more African countries exploring clean and renewable energy, it is time to establish a regional training centre for capacity building to serve the continent.
-0- PANA AR/MA 7June2022
