Although Africa is the largest country among several continents in the world, in the past time, Africa has hardly appeared as a major power that has influenced the world.
Moreover, because it is poor and weak, it has become a place where greedy people use violent means to obtain labor and resources, which has never left the land of Africa from hunger, poverty, disease and war.
In recent years, with the development of the world, the number of powerful countries has increased, and the changes in the international pattern have made the trend of peace more and more obvious.
Coupled with the rise of such a responsible big country as China, many African countries have also ushered in development opportunities, gradually got rid of poverty, and created some miracles.
A rising African power
Ethiopia is one of the fast-growing African countries, the country's development rate in the past 20 years is very impressive, and there will be greater potential in the future.
In order to become a big country, it must first have a vast land area, rich resources and a large population, and as far as Africa is concerned, Ethiopia has obvious advantages in these aspects.
With an area of more than 1.1 million square kilometers, Ethiopia ranks tenth out of more than 50 countries in Africa and has a population of over 100 million, second only to Nigeria.
In terms of resources, it is very abundant, with important resources such as gold, iron, copper, nickel, potash, oil, etc., because of the high terrain, it is also known as the "African Water Tower", and the water resources and water energy are extremely rich.
These objective factors can give Ethiopia a natural advantage in development, as long as the establishment of a suitable system, good international relations and the right development ideas, such a country will inevitably have a large space for development.
Africa-building
In the 21st century, Ethiopia's progress has been evident. We can look at some numbers.
Ethiopia's GDP was $7.3 billion in 1981 and grew by $900 million to $8.2 billion in the two decades to 2000.
Ethiopia's GDP was still $8.2 billion in 2001, but by 2020 the country's GDP has reached $107.6 billion, more than 13 times more than a two-decade increase.
Since 2004, Ethiopia's economy has grown at an average annual rate of about 10%, squeezing into the world's top ten, and in 2020, the country's economic growth rate will still exceed 6%, entering the world's top five under the impact of the epidemic, which is also surprising.
Ethiopia
If a country can sustain economic growth for such a long time, it must not be caused by accidents, but has gained a strong growth momentum.
In particular, the ability to resist wind and waves during the epidemic shows that Ethiopia's development is very solid and stable.
Now many people are more optimistic about this once poor and backward African country, and people have speculated that Ethiopia's development in Africa will be as dazzling as the myth created by China in the world, and it is likely to become the manufacturing center of Africa.
So what gives Ethiopia so much motivation to create such brilliant results?
Outbreak in Ethiopia
Take China as an example to learn from
The rapid development of a country stems from a variety of internal and external factors, and one of the important reasons for Ethiopia's rise is to follow China's example, not only to learn from China on the road of development, but also to actively cooperate with China.
Ethiopia has always been called "African Little China", this statement not only appears on the Internet, but also some media and institutions at home and abroad believe that its development process is very similar to China, and it may become Africa's "Chinese economy" in the future.
China's development rate in the world is rare, and many poor countries are eager to change the status quo so they have a strong interest in the Chinese model. China has always had a good impression in the world, which has also made countries around the world, especially those backward countries that have been helped by China, have a natural good feeling about the Chinese model.
A senior Ethiopian journalist once said: "China's economic growth should become a model for emerging countries, especially Ethiopia." ”
The journalist also made a point of stressing that China's approach to agriculture, industry and poverty reduction is worth learning.
Ethiopia
In An interview with the media in May 2022, Ethiopian Ambassador to China Teshume Toga said: "China's transformation is a miracle, and China's digital economy is growing rapidly. ”
Ambassador Teshume stressed that China has done a very good job in eliminating absolute poverty and industrial upgrading and transformation, and Ethiopia is aware of the importance of related fields and will strengthen cooperation with Chinese enterprises in the future.
From similar statements, we can see that Ethiopians are very optimistic about the Chinese and Chinese models, especially those who have a certain degree of influence in the country, and they will bring what they have seen and heard to the Ethiopian people.
These remarks also show that Ethiopia is approaching China in terms of development ideas, and the areas that have allowed China to rise rapidly over the years are also its future development direction.
Ethiopia
When it comes to Ethiopia learning from China, I have to mention one person, and he is the former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi.
Zenawi once went to study in England, and going out to see the world made his mind more open, and he grew up in a period that was also influenced by socialist ideas.
In 1995, not long after becoming Ethiopia's prime minister, Zenawi visited China, and although China at that time did not have such great achievements as today, Zenawi saw a bright future in China at that time, so he embarked on a path of imitation.
Zenawi
Ethiopia is one of the least developed countries, and although agriculture and animal husbandry are the mainstay, agriculture and animal husbandry are also not developed.
Due to the weak industrial foundation, the lack of relevant machinery and equipment, the low production efficiency of agriculture and animal husbandry, the ability to resist natural disasters is not high, and in the past it often faced the risk of food shortage.
Therefore, over the years, Ethiopia has vigorously developed industry, for example, at the beginning of this century, the country also began to engage in industrial parks, providing better development space and management for industrial enterprises, and at the same time attracting more foreign enterprises to develop.
According to data released by Africa Report magazine in 2021, Ethiopia has established several industrial parks across the country, and Ethiopia already has ten industrial parks that can accommodate 189 enterprises and bring more than 70,000 jobs to its people.
Ethiopia has also learned from China to engage in special economic zones, and its specific practices are more similar to those of China, providing policies and preferences for special economic zones, creating a good development environment, and making the special economic zones a bellwether and forerunner of national economic development, not only exploring the path of future development, but also driving those areas that have not developed.
In addition to striving to attract external investment and engage in industrial construction, Ethiopia is also engaged in infrastructure construction like China to improve the domestic development environment.
Ethiopia has been the largest source of foreign investment in Ethiopia over the years, and with the joint efforts of the two countries, Ethiopia's road, railway and air infrastructure construction has progressed rapidly, which has greatly solved the problem of transportation difficulties.
Ethiopia
In addition to the construction of roads, energy cooperation between China and Egypt is also quite successful, energy is the driving force of industry, in the Ethiopian city of Adama there are wind farms built by Chinese companies, and the construction of distribution and transmission lines throughout the country, not only to meet the development of the country, but also to export to neighboring countries.
Ethiopia is also rich in hydropower, solar energy and geothermal energy, and China's advanced energy technology will allow the country to have more economic growth points.
From the direction of development to the construction of various projects, Ethiopia can see the Chinese style and Chinese model everywhere, and the facts have also proved the benefits of the Chinese model to Egypt, infrastructure construction promotes industry and investment, and industry drives agriculture and animal husbandry, forming a better cycle.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, Ethiopia's ability to effectively cope with risks is also inseparable from learning from the Chinese model.
China's economic stability has benefited from the solid foundation laid in the past and better infrastructure, the rapid development of the Internet economy, even if the epidemic does not affect the normal operation of all walks of life, and Ethiopia has been trying to develop the Internet economy like China over the years.
China and Egypt cooperate
Although Ethiopia has developed rapidly because of its learning from China, it is still difficult to become the "China of Africa".
First of all, from the perspective of natural conditions, China faces the world's largest ocean, backed by the largest continent, has better conditions for development, Ethiopia is located on a plateau, living inland, relatively closed.
From the social level, Ethiopia is still facing internal and external troubles, domestic instability, deep ethnic contradictions, and external contradictions with neighboring countries, while China has strong cohesion and unity of the people due to factors such as system, history and culture.
The stability of a country is too important for the development of a country, and it is even heavier than natural conditions.
In addition Chinese the spirit of pragmatism and seeking truth from facts is also very important, which is the experience of the Chinese people for thousands of years and cannot be easily imitated.
Ethiopia
For many years, for all foreign Chinese have held the attitude of taking their strengths, taking useful and imitative ones to use, and those that cannot be used directly should be used after being Chineseized in combination with the actual situation.
In other words, the Chinese experience tells the world a very important truth: do not completely imitate any model.
Moreover, the development experience of Chinese can not only come from the decades after the founding of New China, but also from the ideas and practices of ancient dynasties and dynasties, so Ethiopia will not have less time and difficulty to explore than we do.
Ethiopia
Development is the cornerstone of national stability, and despite the ongoing civil strife and external disputes in Ethiopia, in the long run it will fundamentally address these issues.
Toward prosperity and strength is the common expectation of the people of a country, development can well unite the people, at that time whoever destroys development is the enemy of the people, development can also create common interests between the international community and reduce international contradictions.
Therefore, as long as Ethiopia actively cooperates with countries like China, learns from China's development experience, and walks out of Ethiopia's own development path, it will eventually take off the hat of "least developed".
bibliography
[1] Ethiopian Ambassador to China: China's transformation is a miracle.2022.5.26.Global Network