Ethiopian gov't, WFP commend China's humanitarian support

ADDIS ABABA -- The Ethiopian government and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) have applauded China's humanitarian support for needy people in the East African country.

Tadesse Bekele Fanta, senior disaster risk management advisor at Ethiopia's National Disaster Risk Management Commission, has recently highlighted China's positive role in contributing to Ethiopia's Humanitarian Requirements Document, a plan issued by the government to address humanitarian challenges across the country.

Since 2016, humanitarian contribution has been made by the Chinese government to Ethiopia, "which was earmarked for our emergency beneficiaries," Fanta told Xinhua.

"It was very instrumental for us to be supported by the Chinese government," he said.

Apart from supporting the national document, China is also "contributing to the WFP, which is reducing the (Ethiopian) government's caseload," Fanta said, hailing China's contribution as "very practical."

Echoing Fanta, Paul Turnbull, the WFP's deputy country director to Ethiopia, also spoke highly of China's humanitarian support for the Ethiopian people through the WFP and other channels.

"China has been providing assistance to the WFP in Ethiopia for the last few years. We use this to buy food and distribute it together and in cooperation with the government," Turnbull told Xinhua recently.

China has also been actively boosting food production on the global scale, Turnbull said.

The country "has a center of excellence for the WFP in China to learn about lots of things to do with food production. This center of excellence has been training a lot of people from governments all over the world, with a cooperative effort from the WFP and the government of China," he added.