# Ethiopian Delegation Toured Berbera Port and Fuel Depot in 2014

> On 14 November 2014, Somaliland Sun reported a 12-member Ethiopian delegation inspected Berbera port and fuel facilities and expressed satisfaction.

- By: Editorial Team, Somali Construction Review (https://somaliconstructionreview.com/about)
- Published: 1 October 2026
- Format: News story (reported from one named public source)
- Publication: Somali Construction Review (https://somaliconstructionreview.com)
- Subject: Infrastructure and Services
- Tags: ports, drainage
- Web version: https://somaliconstructionreview.com/blog/ethiopian-delegation-berbera-port-fuel-depot-2014

## Key points

- On 14 November 2014, Somaliland Sun reported that a 12-member Ethiopian government delegation was on an official tour of Somaliland, inspecting port and fuel storage facilities and meeting President Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo.
- The same report said the visitors expressed satisfaction with the facilities and that the delegation had not yet completed its duties, with no follow-up documented since.

On 14 November 2014, Somaliland Sun reported that a high-ranking Ethiopian government delegation was on an official tour of Somaliland. According to the same report, the 12-member delegation, led by Ethiopia's Federal Government minister in charge of Finance and Economic Development, H.E Ato Sufian Ahmed, had arrived on the Wednesday before publication, a date the report does not tie to a calendar day.

The delegation's programme, as Somaliland Sun described it, included an inspection of port and fuel storage facilities and meetings with senior Somaliland government officials led by President Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo. It also visited the Wajale border town between Somaliland and Ethiopia, the report said, where goods transit to Ethiopia from the Somaliland port of Berbera.

## What was inspected

According to the report, officials from the Sahil regional administration, Berbera municipality, the Port Authority and the fuel depot gave the delegation a detailed tour of Berbera facilities. Somaliland Sun reported that the Somgas facilities at the port city received intense scrutiny from the visiting delegation.

The report said the visitors took particular interest in what it described as a new wing at the port, just finished and commissioned to exclusively serve Ethiopian imports. Somaliland Sun did not name a contractor, consultant, cost, completion date, commissioning date, specification or funding source for that wing.

Somaliland Sun reported that the visit was a prelude to the Federal Government in Addis Ababa jumpstarting gas exports using Somgas as storage before loading and shipping out, and characterised Somgas as locally owned and multimillion. The report did not state a date, volume, value or contractual basis for that plan, and did not say whether any gas was subsequently stored or shipped.

## Satisfaction, attributed

After the site work, Somaliland Sun reported, the delegation was hosted at the Somaliland presidency for a dinner by President Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo that culminated in bi-lateral discussions. Somaliland officials at the meeting chaired by President Silanyo included the ministers of Foreign affairs, Commerce, Finance, Presidency, Public works and Aviation, according to the report, which names no individual Somali minister and no Ethiopian official beyond Ato Sufian Ahmed.

At that meeting the visiting Ethiopians expressed satisfaction with the status of facilities dear to their country's imports, Somaliland Sun reported. Those interviewed were acting as hosts, and the satisfaction is the visitors' expression rather than an independent assessment.

The two teams were in accord on sustaining and enhancing existing multi-pronged relations, the report said. It does not state that any agreement, memorandum, contract or investment deal was signed or reached.

The report also said Berbera handles a large share of imports to Ethiopia. It gave no tonnage, percentage or value for that traffic. [Somaliland Sun](https://somalilandsun.com/somaliland-port-and-fuel-depot-facilities-plus-logistics-satisfactory-for-trade-ethiopian-government-delegation/) put the delegation's duties in Somaliland as not yet complete as of 14 November 2014.

> **Note:** Somaliland Sun's report does not establish what happened after the tour: whether the delegation completed its duties, what conclusions it reached, or whether any port, fuel or logistics arrangement followed. The claims about the new port wing, the Somgas gas-storage plan and the visitors' satisfaction rest on that single report.

## Sources

- [Somaliland: "Port and Fuel Depot Facilities plus Logistics Satisfactory for Trade" Ethiopian Government Delegation](https://somalilandsun.com/somaliland-port-and-fuel-depot-facilities-plus-logistics-satisfactory-for-trade-ethiopian-government-delegation/) — Somaliland Sun, 2014-11-14