By Abdullahi Salad - Reporter
Ethiopia, 19 May 2026 Djibouti’s Finance Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh called on Monday for stronger Horn of Africa cooperation, warning that rivalry and geopolitical competition risk fragmenting the region.
Speaking at the Horn of Africa Inter-Elite Dialogue on Peace and Security in the Jijiga, Ethiopia, Dawaleh, said the future of the region should be based on trust, coordination and shared responsibility.
“The future of the Horn cannot be built on suspicion or rivalry. It must be built on trust, coordination and shared responsibility,” the minister said.
He said economic integration and regional economic corridors should remain central to the Horn of Africa’s long-term vision for peace and stability.
“In a region too often shaped by fragmentation and geopolitical competition, we must reaffirm a simple but strategic truth: connectivity creates interdependence, and interdependence creates stability,” he said.
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Dawaleh said ports, trade corridors, energy links, digital infrastructure and transport networks should serve as foundations for regional cooperation rather than instruments of division.
Djibouti has positioned itself as a regional logistics and trade hub linking countries in the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia, to international markets through its ports and transport infrastructure.
The minister said the Horn of Africa possessed the geographic position, demographic potential and strategic importance to emerge as a region focused on cooperation and shared opportunity rather than conflict and rivalry.
He added that Djibouti remained committed to regional dialogue, pragmatic integration and collective development efforts.
In recent years the Horn of Africa has faced security challenges and competition over trade routes, ports and regional influence. At the same time, governments have increasingly promoted economic integration and cross-border infrastructure projects.