DJIBOUTI: Djibouti on Thursday launched the first phase of Africa’s biggest free-trade zone, seeking to capitalise on its strategic position on one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

At a ceremony in the capital, President Ismael Omar Guelleh hailed the scheme as the culmination of infrastructure projects “boosting Djibouti’s place in international trade and commerce”.

The Horn of Africa nation, located at the mouth of the Red Sea and south of the Suez Canal, in 2017 unveiled three new ports and a railway linking it to landlocked Ethiopia, as part of its bid to become a global trade and logistics hub.—AFP