{"id":281764,"date":"2019-07-16T07:13:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T11:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiX2h0dHBzOi8vZ3VsZm5ld3MuY29tL2J1c2luZXNzL2toYWxpZmEtZnVuZC1zaWducy0xMDAtbWlsbGlvbi1hZ3JlZW1lbnQtd2l0aC1ldGhpb3BpYS0xLjY1MjU2Nzc00gEA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:57:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:57:44","slug":"uaes-khalifa-fund-signs-a-100-million-deal-to-back-innovation-and-small-businesses-in-ethi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/281764","title":{"rendered":"UAE\u2019s Khalifa Fund signs a $100 million deal to back innovation and small businesses in Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development of Abu Dhabi signed a $100 million agreement with Ethiopia\u2019s Ministry of Finance on 15 July 2019 to fund innovation and entrepreneurship projects.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"size-large wp-image-837611\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethiopia-ministry-of-finance-2012.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Ministry of Finance offices in Addis Ababa, November 2012\" \/><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>The Ministry of Finance offices in Addis Ababa, November 2012 (Dvermeirre, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The agreement was signed in Addis Ababa by the fund\u2019s chairman, Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, and Admasu Nebebe of Ethiopia\u2019s Ministry of Finance, Gulf News reported. Ali Saad Al Omaira, the acting UAE charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires in Ethiopia, attended. Xinhua described the money as a grant to boost innovation and technology.<\/p>\n<p>Al Nowais said the money would pay for a series of projects to create jobs for young people, support women and build the skills of entrepreneurs and local institutions. \u201cWe also look forward to helping them in promoting sustainable development across the different regions of the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Admasu said the $100 million would be managed by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology together with the fund.<\/p>\n<p>The deal is the latest sign of fast-growing ties between the UAE and Ethiopia. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met Abu Dhabi\u2019s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, during a visit to the UAE in March 2019. In early July he announced plans to send 50,000 Ethiopian workers to the UAE within a year to ease unemployment at home.<\/p>\n<p>The UAE also played a leading role in the peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In July 2018, Sheikh Mohammed hosted Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in Abu Dhabi after the two countries ended their two-decade conflict.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/gulfnews.com\/business\/khalifa-fund-signs-100-million-agreement-with-ethiopia-1.65256774\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gulf News<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2019-07\/15\/c_138229362.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Xinhua<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development of Abu Dhabi signed a $100 million agreement with Ethiopia\u2019s Ministry of Finance on 15 July 2019 to fund innovation and entrepreneurship projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7911,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethiopia-ministry-of-finance-2012.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1biA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281764"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837642,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281764\/revisions\/837642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}