Ethiopia is in talks to acquire shares in a joint venture involving DP World that will manage a port in northern Somalia, a Somali official said, a move that could give the fast-growing yet landlocked Horn of Africa economy its first stake in foreign docks.
Somaliland, a semi-autonomous territory that aspires to statehood, has agreed “in principle” to give Ethiopia a 19 percent share in the venture administering Berbera port, according to Foreign Minister Saad Ali Shire. Somaliland’s government and Dubai-based DP World, which has a 30-year concession to manage and develop the facility, will be the majority shareholders in Somaliland-registered DPW Berbera, he said in an interview.
If Ethiopia takes its share, Somaliland will hold 30 percent of the company, while DP World will have 51 percent, according to Shire. Berbera sits on the Gulf of Aden, a waterway that leads to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, and is also where Somaliland says the United Arab Emirates is leasing a military airport that may be expanded into a naval facility.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, is pitching itself as an export-oriented manufacturing hub, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting economic growth of 7.5 percent this year, the fastest pace on the continent after Ivory Coast. Ethiopia’s transport and information ministers and Foreign Ministry spokesman didn’t respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment on the Berbera share offer.