埃塞与河南 我们如此相似

我很荣幸能够有机会在2018年11月与非洲各国的使节一道考察访问中国的河南省。这是我第一次到访河南，它在许多方面都给我留下了深刻的印象。河南历史悠久，到处都有中华文明的足迹，在中国历史上的八大古都中它就占据了四个。但同时河南又是一个非常现代化的省份，随着经济的快速发展，河南在城乡建设方面都取得了令人瞩目的成就。我注意到，近年来河南的国内生产总值一直稳居全国第五的位置，它的高科技产业也在迅速增长。

与河南相似的文化和发展道路

埃塞俄比亚与河南有许多相似之处。中国有着5000多年深厚的文化和历史，而河南正是中国文化、历史和古文明的发源地和中心。同样的，埃塞俄比亚也有着数千年的文明历史，并且被认为是人类的起源地。在埃塞俄比亚，我们为拥有大量联合国教科文组织认定的世界文化遗产深感骄傲，其中包括位于古埃塞俄比亚心脏的阿克苏姆古城遗址、拉利贝拉岩石教堂和提亚考古遗址等。这些文化遗产代表着埃塞俄比亚历史上伟大的文明，当我在洛阳参观令人赞叹不已的龙门石窟时，导游的精彩介绍就让我想起了自己国家同样拥有的辉煌文化。埃塞俄比亚和河南的相似之处还包括两地目前都有超过1亿的人口，并且都属于传统农业区。河南省是中国的农业基地，占中国粮食产量的十分之一，而埃塞俄比亚的农业则约占其国内生产总值的40%。非洲使节代表团还会见了中共河南省委书记，出席了中非（河南）商务论坛。论坛是由河南省副省长主持的，郑州市及周边地区的多家企业参加了此次论坛。外交部部长助理和其他一些官员也参加了我们的活动。商务论坛结束后，我会见了一批由河南省工业和信息化委员会组织的投资者，他们对由中地海外建设有限责任公司负责牵头的“埃塞俄比亚-河南-莫霍镇”牲畜项目很感兴趣，因此他们希望了解到更多有关在埃塞俄比亚投资的各项激励政策。双方同意密切合作并加快该项目的实施。我们还就与中地海外建设有限责任公司和河南省工业和信息化委员会合作，组织一个旨在推动牲畜业发展和农产品加工的投资促进论坛达成了一致。

河南省拥有一些世界知名的企业，比如，中国一拖集团有限公司、中信重工公司、宇通客车等。我们有幸参观了一拖集团的一家工厂和展览馆。一拖集团在1955年成立时的规模很小，现在，它已经发展成为了中国现代拖拉机和农业装备的制造基地之一，这给我留下了深刻的印象。目前，一拖集团不仅占据了当地90%的市场份额，而且它的产品已经销往欧洲、亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲。在洛阳，我们还参观了中信重工有限公司。我在那里得知，北京即将竣工的最高的建筑物就属于中信集团，它也将是集团总部的所在地。中信集团制造的重工业广泛用于采矿、水泥和能源等行业。他们在制造过程中大量使用了计算机辅助工作。在参观位于郑州的宇通集团的客车制造基地时，我们亲眼见证了他们将向非洲交付的第15000辆客车。近年来，宇通一直在与埃塞俄比亚以半散装件的方式合作生产“比绍夫图”汽车。我也利用这次出访的机会与宇通驻埃塞俄比亚和宇通驻非洲的代表进行了沟通。我希望宇通与埃塞俄比亚金属工程公司之间半散装件的合作能够得到进一步发展。这是中国与埃塞俄比亚在制造业方面合作的一部分。 此外，河南省在商贸、投资、基础设施建设、乘用车进出口、矿产勘探开发等领域也与非洲国家保持着积极合作。根据官方的不完全统计，河南省与非洲的商务、贸易和投资合作项目总额已经达到了200亿美元。

⬆非洲使节参加宇通出口非洲第15000台客车下线仪式

宝贵的参考与借鉴

在参观了河南省的城市和企业后，河南从传统的农业经济向农业和高科技产业相结合的现代化经济的转型给我留下了深刻的印象。河南省的重工业在中国各城市中也占有极其重要和突出的地位。考察期间，我发现河南的许多发展经验都对埃塞俄比亚具有参考和借鉴的作用，特别是其中的三个方面，对于埃塞俄比亚的转型和发展可以给予非常有益的帮助。

首先，产业园对河南省的发展起到了关键作用，特别是在农业产业化的进程中。产业园有助于聚集政府有限的优势和资源，集中力量支持重点企业发展产业链。产业园还可以作为试验场，用于探索新的发展路径，并在确定其可行性后再更广泛推广和应用。河南省的18个城市都有自己的产业园。在其省会城市郑州，更是有许多大型产业园，比如，国家级郑州经济技术开发区和郑州国家高新技术产业开发区。全省县级以上的产业园共有180个。目前，埃塞俄比亚已建成或正在建设中的产业园有约20个。未来，我认为埃塞俄比亚和河南可以在产业园区的建设、管理和运营方面展开密切合作。借助产业园这一平台，我们可以与河南省的优质企业广泛合作，比如，宇通客车、双汇食品、淅减汽车和辅仁药业等，从而带动埃塞俄比亚纺织、制药、食品、汽车零部件、家电制造等行业的发展。

第二，基础设施建设是河南区域经济发展的催化剂。河南省公路网的长度和密度都居中国中、西部地区的首位。高速公路网的长度和高铁网的密度也都位居全国前列。河南在基础设施建设方面，特别是在高速铁路网的建设上投资巨大，并且建成了全国首个机场经济综合试验区，它们帮助它逐渐实现了从公路时代、高速公路时代、高铁时代到航空和信息时代的一步步跨越。埃塞俄比亚也期望未来能建设全国性的快速交通网络，这也与“一带一路”的倡议相吻合。因为它不仅有助于人民生活的便利化，而且可以降低企业成本，吸引外资。今后，埃塞俄比亚和河南将在公路项目的规划、设计和建设方面加强合作。河南省农村人口众多，农村基础设施改善后直接影响到人民生活质量的提高。在乡村振兴战略的指导下，河南省的“新农村”建设取得了令人瞩目的成就。河南农村对基础设施，包括道路、桥梁、水井、污水管、灌溉系统和光伏电网等，进行大面积改造的做法也很值得埃塞俄比亚借鉴。比方说，如果将河南省农村灌溉水塘的建筑技术引入埃塞俄比亚，会有助于缓解埃塞俄比亚水源存在的季节性和区域性不平衡的问题。

第三，发展战略和理念的交流是埃塞俄比亚与河南，乃至埃塞俄比亚与中国未来合作的重要内容。得益于政府的规划和发展理念，河南省的城镇化率一直在提高，工业化进程也在短短几十年的时间里迅速推进。比方说，中原城市群和郑州都市圈的建设就来自这样的发展理念。在统一指导下，郑州与开封、焦作和许昌等五个周边城市逐渐合并为一个城市，郑州将其在发展方面的先进经验推广到这些周边城市，带动了区域经济的发展。埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴完全可以借鉴这一理念，加强与邻近城市的合作，从而造福周边地区。这样做有助于缩小贫富差距，也能够改善首都与周边地区的关系。此外，在乡村振兴、生态文明建设、旅游等领域，埃塞俄比亚与中国也有许多值得交流和分享的想法和经验。

⬆埃塞俄比亚驻华使馆副馆长（代办）葛乃天（左一）参观洛阳一拖集团

令人印象深刻的兰考和红旗渠精神

我们此行还参观了兰考文化中心和焦裕禄纪念馆。焦裕禄上世纪五、六十年代时在兰考带领当地人民努力摆脱贫困和应对气候挑战，被誉为人民的公仆，他的事迹也令使节们很感动。我们还去参观了红旗渠，当地人民为了解决发展过程中遇到的缺水问题，硬是让河流改道穿过山脉。实在难以想象他们当时付出了怎样艰苦的努力，但这也充分展示出他们在面对挑战、改变环境和实现不可能的过程中的坚定决心和革命精神。毫无疑问，这次参观访问令我们所有人都获益良多。它不仅加深了我们对中国丰富的文化传统和历史的了解，而且也让我们感受到当代中国领导人和中国人民为了经济的可持续发展、为了环境的恢复与保护和为了城乡经济和社会的转型所表现出的坚忍不拔的毅力和勇于拼搏的斗志。我由衷地希望今后埃塞俄比亚和河南可以通过建立规范化的沟通机制保持密切联系。我认为我们之间可以互相学习，成为更紧密的合作伙伴，共同努力在埃塞俄比亚与中国、非洲与中国之间建立人类命运共同体。

英文版

Ethiopia and Henan-Partners with Common Goals

By Genet Teshome Jirru  DHM of Ethiopian Embassy in China

It was my great honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to visit China’s Henan Province together with envoys from all over Africa in November 2018. It’s my first time experiencing this great province and Henan empressed me a lot in many ways. Henan is ancient as it’s full of footprints of Chinese civilization which is witnessed by four capitals among the eight great ancient capitals in Chinese history. Henan is also modern as the fast economic development Henan has achieved in both urban and rural areas is absolutely notable. As I noticed in recent years, Henan’s GDP ranks among the top five in China. Its high-tech industry has also been growing fast.

Similarities between Ethiopia & Henan

Ethiopia and Henan Province have many similarities. China is rich in culture and history and Henan has been the origin and center in this Chinese culture, history and ancient civilization which dated back to more than 5,000 years ago. Ethiopia is also known as the Land of Origins which enjoys a civilization from thousands of years ago to the modern era.  In Ethiopia, we’re proud to have treasured a big number of UNESCO World Cultural Heritages such as the ruins of the ancient city of Aksum which was the heart of ancient Ethiopia, the Lalibela Rock Hewn Churhes and the Tiya Archaeological Site, etc. These cultural heritages symbolize the great civilization in the history of Ethiopia and it reminded me the glory of my own culture when I was introduced by our guide while visiting the marvelous Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang. Similarly, both of Ethiopia and Henan have more than 100 million population currently and both are traditional agricultural areas. Henan Province is the agricultural base of China which contributes one-tenth of China’s grain production, while Ethiopia’s agricultural sector accounts for about 40% of the GDP. The group of African envoys and representatives had an audience with the Secretary of CPC Henan Provincial Committee, attended the China -Africa (Henan) Business Forum, where Vice Governor was the main host and attended by quite a large number of Companies in and around Zhengzhou. The events were attended by Assistant Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other officials of the Ministry. After the Business Forum I met with a group of investors led by Henan Committee of Industry and Information Technology on Ethiopia – Henan – CGCOC Livestock Project in Mojo Town. The potential investors were interested to know the incentive package provided to them in Ethiopia. Both sides have agreed to work closely to speed up implementation of the project. We have also agreed to organize, in collaboration with CGCOC and Henan CIIT an investment promotion forum dedicated to livestock development and agro-processing.

Henan companies such as YTO Group Corporation, CITIC Heavy Industries Company and Yutong Bus have become world-renowned enterprises. We had a privilege to visit the factory and the museum of YTO Group. It impressed me very much that YTO from a humble start in 1955 has now become one of the modern tractors and agricultural equipment manufacturing base in China. YTO controls 90% of the local market and its products are distributed to Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. In Luoyang, we have visited CITIC Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. I learned that the tallest building in Beijing, which is about to get completed belongs to CITIC and it is going to be the Group’s Headquarters. CITIC manufactures Heavy Industries for mining, cement, energy and other sectors. The manufacturing process is highly computer aided. While visiting Yutong Group Bus Manufacturing base in Zhengzhou, we witnessed the 15,000th bus delivery to Africa. Yutong has been partnering with Ethiopia in manufacturing “Bishoftu” buses under SKD arrangement. I had a chance to interact with Yotong Ethiopia and Yutong Africa Representatives. I hope the partnership between Yutong and METEC will further develop to CKD arrangement. This is part of China – Ethiopia manufacturing capacity cooperation. Besides, Henan Province has been cooperating actively with African countries in the fields of business and trade, investment, infrastructure construction, passenger car import and export, mineral exploration and development, etc. According to official incomplete statistics, the total amount of business, trade, investment and cooperation projects between Henan Province and Africa has reached 20 billion US dollars.

Valuable references

After visiting the cities and enterprises in Henan Province, Henan’s transformation from a traditional agricultural economy to a modern economy combining agriculture and high-tech industries impresses me a lot. Henan’s renowned heavy industries also make it important and outstanding among other cities in China. During my visit, I found there’s a lot of development experience that my country Ethiopia may borrow for reference. Three aspects in the process of Henan’s development which I think may be referable to Ethiopia’s transformation and development.

First, the industrial parks played a key role in the development of Henan Province, especially in the process of industrialization of the agricultural sector. The industrial parks help to gather the limited strength and resources of the government, concentrate on supporting key enterprises to foster the industrial chains. The parks can also be used as the test field to explore new development paths for wider application in the society when they get more applicable. All the 18 cities in Henan Province have their own industrial parks. In the provincial capital Zhengzhou alone, there are a number of large-scale industrial parks such as National Zhengzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone and Zhengzhou National High & New TechnologyIndustries Development Zone. Together with the county-level industrial parks, there are in total about 180 industrial parks in Henan Province. There are about 20 industrial parks which have been built or under construction currently in Ethiopia. In the future, I believe Ethiopia and Henan are expected to cooperate closely in the construction, management and operation of the industrial parks. As a platform, we may cooperate extensively with high-quality enterprises in Henan Province, such as Yutong Bus, Shuanghui Food, Cijan Automobile, and Furen Pharmaceutical, etc., to promote the development of Ethiopia’s textile, pharmaceutical, food, auto parts, home appliance manufacturing and other industries.

In addition, infrastructure construction is a catalyst for Henan’s regional economic development. The length and density of the road network in Henan Province ranks first in the central and western regions of China. The length of the expressway network ranks first in China, and the density of high-speed rail network also rank in the forefront of China. The huge amount of investment, the construction of high-speed rail network and the first airport economic comprehensive test area in the country, has enabled Henan to gradually realize the leap from the highway era, the high-speed expressway era, the high-speed rail era to the aviation and information era. Ethiopia is expected to build a nationwide fast transportation network in the future, which also gets along with the Belt and Road Initiative. This will not only facilitate people’s lives, but also reduce enterprise costs and attract foreign investment. In the future, Ethiopia and Henan may strengthen cooperation in the planning, design and construction of highway projects. There are many rural areas in Henan Province, and the allocation of infrastructure in rural areas is directly related to the quality of life of the people. Under the guidance of the Rural Revitalization Strategy of China, the achievements of building a “new countryside” in Henan Province have been remarkable. The widely applied infrastructure in rural areas of Henan, such as roads, bridges, wells, sewage pipes, irrigation systems, photovoltaic power grids, etc., is also of reference for many rural areas in Ethiopia. For example, the construction technology of rural irrigation ponds in Henan Province, if introduced to Ethiopia, may help alleviate the problem of seasonal and regional imbalances of water sources in Ethiopia.

Finally, the exchange of development strategy and concept can be a key content of future cooperation between Ethiopia and Henan, and between Ethiopia and China in general. Benefiting from the government’s planning and development philosophy, the rate of urbanization in Henan Province has been continuously improved, and industrialization has progressed rapidly in just a few decades. For example, the construction of the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration and the Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area is one of the development concepts. Under its guidance, Zhengzhou and the five surrounding cities including Kaifeng, Jiaozuo and Xuchang, etc. gradually merged into one, bringing the advanced development of Zhengzhou to the surrounding cities and driving the development of the regional economy. Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa may borrow this concept and strengthen its cooperation with neighboring cities and benefit its surrounding areas. This may help narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and improve the relationship between the capital and the surrounding areas. In addition, in the areas of rural revitalization, ecological civilization construction, tourism and other fields, there are also many ideas worthy of exchange and experience sharing between Ethiopia and China.

The impressive spirit of the Lankao and Red Flag Canal

Moreover, the visits to Lankao Cultural Centre and Memorial Hall of Jiao Yulu, whose services in Lankao have honoured him as a public servant and son of people, who led the local people in fight against poverty and climate challenge back in the 50s and 60s also impressed the envoys. In addition, the spirit of the Red Flag Canal with which the local people diverted a river through the mountains and solved the problem of water shortage for local development shows the unthinkable hard work the local leaders and people have done and exhibits how diligent and committed the locals were to face the challenges, change the environment and make impossible possible. There is no doubt that we have benefited a lot from this visit by drawing lessons from rich Chinese culture, tradition and history as well as the modern era Chinese Leaders’ and people’s endurance, dedication and commitment to achieve continuous and sustainable economic growth, environmental rehabilitation and protection, as well as realizing economic and social transformation in both urban and rural places.  I hope that in the future, Ethiopia and Henan can interconnect through the establishment of a normalized communication mechanism. I believe we will learn from each other, become closer partners, and work together to build a community of common destiny between Ethiopia and China, between Africa and China.

⬆Mr. Genet Teshome Jirru and other envoys visited YTO Group Corporation