- The government has completed 1,000 hectares of the 10,000 hectares and 33 million cubic metres of water the country wants to irrigate in the blue economy plan.
- AfDB to support Eritrea in energy investment, solar and wind power, skills and capacity development to help other African countries, especially in engineering.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to support the Eritrean government in developing its blue economy, industrial processing zones, financial markets, agriculture, and energy. The President of AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, stated this during his recent visit to the President of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki.
Adesina said the bank would ensure the country benefits in the blue economy, primarily through aquaculture, marine resources, and the fishing sector. He said the bank would support the Eritrean president to develop special agro-industrial processing zones, infrastructure, food and agricultural businesses to enable it to process packaged food and fruits for export.
The AfDB boss stated that the bank will boost horticulture production, especially flower production, for regional markets and exports. Adesina further listed other support of the bank to the country, including investment in energy, solar and wind power, skills and capacity development to help other African countries, especially in engineering.
“I am excited about the 33 million cubic metres of water and the 10,000 hectares the country wants to irrigate, with 1,000 hectares already done. I was impressed with the density of infrastructure. President Isaias Afwerki took me to an area where they were irrigating. Instead of doing the regular pivot irrigation, it has one that you can do from the top. Again, credit to the fact that they are innovating themselves. They are not copying from others. Eritrea dam’s construction was done by its research institutions’ local engineers, unlike other countries that contract projects to foreign contractors,” he said.
Adesina expressed excitement over the construction of the tanks for pumping water for irrigation and households by students, stating that big engineering firms usually construct such projects in other countries.