The two items mentioned above (the industrial zone and the LED screens) may also as a combination reflect China's efforts to address the sensitivities of rapidly rising exports to Africa. Ethiopia's one of those many countries without a pile of minerals to ship to China, which leaves it with a yawning trade gap - in the first half of 2007 exports to Ethiopia rose 99% y/y to US$345m, against imports from it of just US$54m. That makes China probably the second most important source of imports, but nothing as an export destination (Ethiopia exported around US$1bn last year). Presumably the industrial zone is partly aimed at addressing claims that these soaring imports from China are destroying local industry.