Chinese companies have become major partners of Ethiopia in railway construction.

The Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, as the first electrified transnational railway in East Africa, is contracted by two Chinese companies, China Railway Group and CCECC. It provides freight services. Ethiopia has built already the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway in the central-eastern part, and the Awasssa-Kombolcha-Weldiya railway in the north, to facilitate petroleum cargo services. CCECC  has now contracted a new railway line between the central Ethiopian market town of Awash and Djibouti, expected to improve petroleum cargo services.

Xinhua news release, January 1, 2021