The second proposal envisages a 200-room business hotel, 50 serviced apartments, cultural and entertainment centres, as well as offices, retail and food and beverage market spaces.

This is a 'doorway investment' for the Gulf giant because the delegation also announced its interests in receiving a management concession to operate the 761 kilometre Ethio-Djibouti railway lines and to install a pipeline for oil that runs from Djibouti to the Awash area, a few hundred kilometres east of Addis Ababa.