A senior Ethiopian official has estimated Saudi investments in his country at about $13.3 billion, most of it being in the agricultural sector. By contrast, the president of the organization of Saudi investors in Ethiopia Muhammad Abd al-Rahman al-Shahri estimated the amount of Saudi investments at the beginning of this calendar year at $200 million. Al-Shahri expects 400 Saudi investors to invest $266 million in various aspects of agricultural commodities. For now, Rice and wheat seem to be a high priority.

Saudi investments in agriculture and animal husbandry are in keeping with the government's strategic plan to reach food security.

[Editor's comment: No explanation was given for the large discrepancy between the estimates by the Ethiopian and the Saudi sources. One suspects that the Ethiopian official was not well-informed.]

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, September 24, 2011