Xinhua| October 10, 2020

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday inaugurated the landmark Entoto natural park located on the northern outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa.

The park, which took about one year to complete and is equipped with various facilities, including sport centers, restaurants, horseback riding, artificial lake as well as sports centers, is part of Ahmed’s plan to transform Ethiopia’s tourism sector.

“We possess a naturally endowed country with astounding beautiful places. If we cooperate with each other, we can build spectacular places like this every year which can be used for various purposes including for recreation,” said the Ethiopian PM.

“We’ve shown you don’t need extraordinary efforts to build landmark structures. Ethiopia has naturally endowed areas beyond what many of us have guessed,” Ahmed further said.

Earlier this year, the Ethiopian PM unveiled plans to transform several natural wonders across Ethiopia into modern tourist hotspots.

The Entoto park has already provided employment opportunities for 463 low income mothers living in the surrounding areas.

Ethiopian authorities hoped that the Entoto natural park will create employment opportunities for thousands of locals, when it eventually operates at full capacity.

While the Entoto natural park was built as part of efforts to boost Ethiopia’s tourism sector, it also houses structures that are reminders of present challenges, including a statue dedicated for health professionals fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the people invited to witness the Entoto natural park’s inauguration is Ataklitie Baraki, President of the Surgical Society of Ethiopia.

Baraki said the memorial statue dedicated to health professionals fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is a long-needed recognition to health professionals putting their lives on the line to save patients’ lives.

“Health as a human right has its own specific features and values. One of the values is sacrifice, the other is truthfulness,” Baraki told Xinhua.

“This statue will allow you to motivate the already existing health force and at the same time motivate people to join the health sector, so I think it can have an impact. It could even be the beginning of a retention mechanism for health professionals,” He further said.

Ethiopia has confirmed 82,662 COVID-19 cases and 1,271 COVID-19 related deaths as of Saturday morning.

Dozens of Ethiopian health professionals were among the people who lost their lives fighting COVID-19 in the east African country. Enditem