Ethiopia's Chinese-built industry zone provides New Year donations to needy people

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's Chinese-built Eastern Industry Zone on Sunday marked the arrival of Ethiopia's New Year with livelihood support to vulnerable local community members.

The donations, provided by the 85 companies operating in the Eastern Industry Zone, most of which are Chinese manufacturers, comprised of school supplies for local students and various household utensils.

The industry zone, located on the outskirt of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, was inaugurated in 2010 as Ethiopia's first.

Ethiopia has since established more industry parks across the country, which strives to become the manufacturing hub of the African continent.

According to Eastern Industry Zone Vice Director Jiao Yongshun, called for efforts to provide more jobs for locals.

"That is very important. It's the best way, because if we want to change their lives, we should let them work," he said.

The Ethiopian New Year, or Enkutatash in Amharic language, falls on Sept 11 (or Sept 12 during a leap year), as the East African nation uses a unique calendar that counts its year seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar.