In Ethiopia, many "firsts" in various projects, including industrial parks, wind power, expressways, urban light rails and cross-border electric rail links, are associated with China, as the two countries are furthering economic and trade cooperation.

The World Bank has said that, in the past 12 years, Ethiopia's annual average economic growth rate has remained over 10 percent, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

China has played an important role in helping boost Ethiopia's economic development. China has been Ethiopia's largest trade partner, main source of investment and projects contractor for many consecutive years. Statistics show that bilateral trade between China and Ethiopia increased over 25 times between 2003 and 2015.

According to the Ethiopian government's Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTPII), the manufacturing industry's share in the country's GDP should rise from the current five percent to 10 percent by 2020, and share of exports is expected to reach 20 percent.

Key industries include textiles, leather, agricultural produce processing, and electronic assembly. Ethiopia's eight industrial parks under construction are all built by Chinese enterprises. Local people regard the industrial parks as a symbol of modernization and represent the country's main hope for advancement.