As part of its ongoing economic and social development programmes, the Japanese government has provided 2.7 million dollars of worth of rice to Ethiopia. The assistance comprises approximately 3,300tn of Japanese rice, provided to combat food insecurity due to various factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement was signed by Yasmin Wohabrebbi, state minister for Finance, and Ito Takako, ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia, last week. Close to 13 million people in the country are at risk of experiencing crisis- or emergency-levels of food insecurity, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (UN-OCHA).