Aladdin Holdings signs Ethiopia agri-tourism deal

Chinese company Aladdin Holdings Group and the Ethiopian embassy in Beijing signed a strategic memorandum on Wednesday for a proposed China-East Africa Modern Agriculture and Cultural Tourism Industry Innovation Center.

Under the memorandum, the two sides would focus on integrated energy and modern agriculture, combining renewable energy, modern farming, equipment manufacturing, and cultural tourism in Ethiopia.

Yang Renqiang, chairman of Aladdin Holdings Group, said the company sees Ethiopia as a large market with strong renewable-energy resources and growing demand for agricultural upgrading, food security support, and job creation.

Yang said the company hopes to develop an integrated industrial-agriculture cluster linking solar power, industrial energy storage, cold-chain logistics, and agricultural robotics. The long-term aim is to replicate and scale the model across Ethiopia, East Africa, and the wider continent.

Tefera Derbew Yimam, Ethiopia's ambassador to China, said the proposal matches the nation's wider economic reform agenda and its push to modernize agriculture, the pillar industry that supports 70 percent of employment in Ethiopia.

The embassy would support coordination as the plan moves forward, he added.

As a key participant in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative, Ethiopia is China's all-weather strategic partner in Africa. The two sides have achieved joint efforts across infrastructure, green energy, agriculture, and manufacturing.