China provides 100 million yuan in emergency food assistance (Linked to Record ID#1455)

In August 2011, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that it would start shipments of food aid to northeast African countries at the end of the month.

China committed to provide emergency food aid and food aid exchanges totaling RMB 443.2 million to the disaster-stricken areas in the Horn of Africa. 150 million yuan in emergency food assistance was committed to Ethiopia in 2011.

The 150 million yuan aid originated from two different food aid packages from China to the region that is part of a larger 90 million RMB and 353.2 million RMB to the drought stricken region. The 50 million food aid is captured in Record ID#1455.

According to UNOCHA, the amount committed for this specific project was 100 million yuan (UNOCHA: Financial Tracking Service Flow ID: 87764).

Wei Hongtian, Charge d'Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, handed over the assistance certificate to Wondirad Mandefro, Ethiopian State Minister of Agriculture, at a ceremony in the Office of Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Food Security Sector (DRMFSS) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The handover was witnessed by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian State Minister of Finance and Economic Development, and Qian Zhaogang, Economic Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, and other officials. The first batch contained 8,139.4 tons of wheat and 715.15 tons of rice. The second batch of emergency food assistance pledged by China was expected to come in November and December.

The status of the second delivery is uncertain.