The article touches on a number of themes relevant to the topic of complementarity of
cities. Two cities of Eastern Ethiopia are being considered, Harar, an ancient and religious
centre of Islam, also called a holy city of Islam in the Horn of Africa, and Dire Dawa,
founded as a railway station, which further developed into a commercial and industrial
centre and a second chartered city of Ethiopia – after the capital city of Addis Ababa.
Statistical data presented in the article show complementary character of both cities on
the level of business and economic development, while cultural data answer the question
on how two cities can be complementary in the cultural sphere of a society life, the final
result of the article being a suggestion that complementarity can be observed not only
as an economic, but also as a cultural phenomenon
