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Significance
The meeting, hosted by Saudi Arabia, followed a peace summit between Ethiopia and Eritrea the previous day. Rapprochement between Djibouti and Eritrea, the Horn of Africa’s two smallest states, is an obscure but essential piece of a new Ethiopian-led peace jigsaw, which is rapidly reconfiguring the Horn’s habitually fraught inter-state relations.
Impacts
The deal will alter the fast-changing regional outlook for ports and trade corridors, increasing competition and lowering freight fees.
Opening Assab to Ethiopian trade will not greatly undercut the Djibouti-Ethiopia railway or Djibouti’s new Chinese port and free trade zone.
Peace could also boost the relevance of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the regional bloc based in Djibouti.
Keywords:
East Africa,
AF,
Djibouti,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia,
China,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia,
Somalia,
United Arab Emirates,
economy,
industry,
international relations,
politics,
border conflict,
foreign investment,
foreign policy,
foreign trade,
natural resources,
regional,
security,
talks,
ethnic,
infrastructure,
sanctions,
shipping,
Fossil fuels,
Metals & mining,
Infrastructure,
Transport & logistics
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2018
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