Recently, everyone's attention has been attracted by Argentina, which has rejected the expansion of the BRICS, in fact, there is another African country that is worth paying attention to, that is, Ethiopia.
When it comes to Ethiopia, most people have the impression that it is very poor, and it is true, just before it joined the BRICS, it just announced that it had entered a state of sovereign debt default, in other words, it was blatantly acting as a liar. Moreover, many friends know that the country with the most debts in Ethiopia is China, which is as high as 14.5 billion US dollars, so how should this money be repaid, and why should Ethiopia be allowed to join the BRICS? Today, let's talk about what kind of rare opportunity this African "poor country" has joined the BRICS.
(Ethiopia officially joins the BRICS cooperation mechanism)
Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, with a total population of more than 126 million, ranking 11th in the world. Before the 90s of the last century, Ethiopia was one of the poorest countries in the world, and it could not even meet the food and clothing of its people. However, this situation has also been improved, because after China's reform and opening up, the rapid economic development, Ethiopia also saw this, and actively followed China's reform, not only launched the Egyptian five-year plan, but also introduced a large number of Chinese capital and Chinese technology, built industrial parks, and for a while various garment factories, tanneries and even mobile phone manufacturing and assembly manufacturers, are rooted in Ethiopia.
In addition, China has actively helped Egypt in infrastructure construction and built the first electrified railway. In those years, Ethiopia's GDP growth remained at a high level of more than 10 percent for a long time, reaching an all-time high of 13.6 percent in 2004. And after two decades of development, Ethiopia has also reversed the label of "poor country" and turned into a medium-sized country.
Objectively speaking, at this stage of development, Ethiopia still has not learned China's development wisdom. Egypt's economic development policy is entirely oriented towards GDP growth, ignoring environmental protection and regional development coordination.
(China's Transsion mobile phones are popular in Africa)
This has exacerbated the contradictions in Ethiopia, not only undermining sustainable development, but also causing the gap between the rich and the poor to be too large, causing ethnic contradictions, and once there is a rift in the interior, it is easy for external forces to take advantage of the situation. Once the flames of war spread in the country, there will be no way to talk about economic construction. Ethiopia toiled for 20 years and returned to the pre-liberation period overnight.
In this context, it is not difficult to understand why Ethiopia has become a traitor. The default was triggered by a $33 million coupon on a $1 billion bond. Of course, this is not for any one country, but for all Ethiopia's creditor countries, but it can also be seen how stretched it is that a huge country cannot even come up with a mere $33 million.
Then a friend asked, since Ethiopia is so poor, its accession does not seem to meet the definition of BRICS, and besides, it still owes so much debt to China, and when the time comes, it will cooperate with it, won't it owe more and more?
(Ethiopia has abundant gold reserves)
Although the BRICS cooperation mechanism is primarily an economic cooperation platform, Ethiopia's accession still has these considerations. First of all, Ethiopia's political status and national prestige in Africa are very high. In modern times, when African countries were colonized, only Ethiopia maintained true independence, and the headquarters of the African Union was set up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Secondly, Ethiopia is very rich in natural resources, with proven gold reserves of 900 tons, tantalum and niobium ore of 17,000 tons, and natural gas reserves of about 24.9 billion cubic meters.
In addition, Ethiopia's geographical location is also very important, open the map, you can see that it is next to Djibouti, and its capital Addis Ababa, the Djibouti-Djibouti railway has been opened, and the goods to the sea has become extremely convenient, which is very strategic in East Africa.
Moreover, now that Ethiopia's civil strife has basically ended, and it is in a state of ruin, there should be no prejudice against its economic development, and in terms of volume, as long as the previous development model is maintained, and the reform of environmental protection and regional protection coordination is intensified, Ethiopia will basically have no problem resuming economic growth.
(Electric Railway of China-Ethiopia Cooperation)
Ethiopia owes China about $14.5 billion, all of which have tangible results of cooperation, such as $4.5 billion in railways, $4.1 billion in the construction of power grids and communication facilities, and $975 million in the construction of a hydropower station and a large sugar factory. And these facilities are all capable of bringing tangible economic benefits.
Moreover, now that Ethiopia has joined the BRICS, these facilities also guarantee cooperation between all parties, thus helping Ethiopia to follow the international trend and promote the development of Africa's most populous country in a more just and equitable direction. Moreover, joining the BRICS countries can gain more cooperation opportunities, market opportunities and political influence. This is of great significance to its economic development and the promotion of its international status.
In this case, it is only a matter of time for Ethiopia to repay China's arrears, and it can also help China and Ethiopia expand cooperation in resources and energy, which is not necessarily a bad thing in economic terms, and can sometimes be more conducive to cooperation between all parties.