U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, leading a delegation of global leaders visiting the Horn of Africa, on Monday announced an $8 billion initiative to boost economic growth across the region's eight countries. Officials from the United Nations, World Bank, European Union (EU), Islamic Development Bank, and the African Development Bank met with Ban in Ethiopia on Tuesday to plan for the regional development initiative. "The countries of the Horn of Africa are making important yet unheralded progress in economic growth and political stability. Now is a crucial moment to support those efforts, end the cycles of conflict and poverty, and move from fragility to sustainability," Ban said in a statement. The global delegations plans to utilize the "untapped natural resources" in the Horn of Africa region, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda.
