The Federation of Africa Engineers Associations (FAEO) plans to set up an office in Ethiopia as part of its foothold expansion in Africa.
The 8th edition of UNESCO Africa Engineering Week (AEW) and Conference kicked off in Addis Ababa from November 7 to 11, 2022 at the Ethiopian Science Museum.
“From the resolution that we proposed, the HQ of the organization wants to have a liaison office, for program coordination for infrastructure development. We have a lot of inter-regional projects in water supply, energy and roads. Thus we need such an office so as to participate at the policy level and in the framework design of inter-regional projects. Similarly, this office is critically placed in an area to best access the market so as to be part of the development framework implantation in the region,” said Eng. Kazawadi Papias, president elect of FAEO.
Speaking on the issue, Yonas Ayalew, president of the Ethiopian Association of Civil Engineers (EACE) explained that his association is taking the mandate to organize and communicate with the AU and UNESCO for the office facilitation.
Hosted by the EACE in collaboration with the FAEO, WFEO and UNESCO under the theme: “Accelerating Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Africa Together,” the conference was attended by President Sahle-Work Zewde, the Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide, the Minister of Defense, Abreham Belay, the Minister of Irrigation and Lowland Areas, Aisha Mohamed in addition to participants from numerous countries who are engaged in various fields of engineering including academicians, students, engineering consultancy, industry players and also international partners.
The gathering served as a platform for experience sharing and network creation with local industries’ contractors and consultants.
The AEW is said to play a key role in realizing the African Union’s 2063 goals which focuses on energy sources, construction, information technology infrastructure, transportation, water and sewage disposal, and cooperation and finance issues through streamlined technology.
Infrastructure is crucial for facilitating economic development and a better quality of life. This has been well recognized in both the AU’s Agenda 2063 goals and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Whilst Goal 10 of the AU Agenda 2063 states “World class infrastructure crises cross Africa”, SDG Goal 9 is “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.”
The conference was thus purposed to examine how the development of such infrastructure can be undertaken in a sustainable manner to help raise living standards, assist in the exploitation of our natural resources, improve health, and industrialize.
FAEO which consists of members from many African countries is a non-governmental organization which represents the interests of all engineering practitioners in Africa, based out of Nigeria.
During the event, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was also honored for his contribution in changing and developing the construction sector through enhancing participation of local construction companies.
As Yonas indicated, 90 percent of construction in Ethiopia is built by Ethiopian engineers.