Editor's Note : This assessment is part of a series of analyses supporting Stratfor's 2020 Annual Forecast. These assessments are designed to provide more context and in-depth analysis on key developments over the next quarter and throughout the year . The Horn of Africa, with its booming economies and critical location that abuts key international shipping lanes, has long attracted outside interest — as well as interminable conflicts. Yet as regional heavyweight Ethiopia opens its economy after decades of closed, state-centric development, new outside players are even more eager to do business there. Among that group is France, which is actively positioning its flagship companies to win big in the country in the years ahead. And luckily for Paris, Addis Ababa's long aversion to overdependence on any single outside power will boost French businesses as they seek to make inroads in a massive market of 110 million people.