BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia and Kenya have a shared destiny and it needs to be backed by actual economic opportunities, so said Eyob Tekalign (PhD), Finance State Minister.
In an exclusive interview with Kenya’s Daily Nation, Eyob stated that the two countries have strongly shared common destiny, and what these countries have failed to do is to exhaustively utilize that common destiny.
“I hope the next trade relationship would be in fully exploiting that opportunity. And I see in our leaders a clear vision about that across all levels of leadership,” he indicated. He said he is very confident that it will go to the next level of strong profound relationships. He added that there is people-to-people relation among the two counties. And, they have a wide border.
As to him, the two countries have a shared destiny, and the destinies are intertwined. “That is how we believe and that is what our founding fathers have believed and this rhetoric needs to be backed by actual economic opportunities, opportunities for Kenyan businesses in Ethiopia and the same in Kenya.”
Regarding Ethiopia’s ‘Homegrown Economic Reform’, Eyob indicated that the government has looked at all key sector areas. “One sector was the telecom center and we sensed we need to create a world-class telecom industry.”
And, as to him, the government has carefully studied what should be the approach and then the approach you decide to take is to open up the sector for competition and also strengthen the incumbent by partially privatizing it. So the government went through a series of very transparent bill processes.
He also noted that the Safaricom is the one that managed to win bill and the teams on the ground are planning for launch sometime in April and then they are so far keeping their momentum in maintaining the critical milestones for that goal.
“So Safaricom has significant implications for the digital transformation that we have in background, but also signifies what these two nations can do together,” Eyob said, adding that, “Safaricom is one of most areas of corporation and we are pleased with their activities.”
As to the State Minister, when Ethiopia gets into a full-fledged privatization actual bid, there will be another Safaricom type that would be interested in the sugar industry. It is to be recalled that Eyob recently led a delegation from Addis to Nairobi for a series of meetings.
The February 8/2022
