An Indian business delegation in Ethiopia
Last week, a twenty-four person investors’ delegation from India visited Ethiopia. Accompanied by Ms. Genet Zewdie, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to India, the delegation was warmly received by a number of government officials including Deputy Prime Minister, Addisu Legesse, Ato Teffera Deribew, the Minister of Agriculture, Ato Tadesse Haile, State Minister of Trade and Industry, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The group was given presentations by various sectoral ministries and agencies, covering, inter alia, the country’s investment climate in Ethiopia, textiles, leather, agriculture and agro-processing, energy, as well as the progress of privatisation and investment finance. A number of field trips were arranged to different areas of the country, including the Oromia, Afar, Southern Peoples, Amhara and Gambella Regional States.
The delegation showed interest in a wide variety of areas: agriculture; agro-processing; horticulture; rubber plantations; cotton cultivation, ginning and pressing; poultry; dairy production, processing and distribution; the development of integrated supply chain-based food-processing parks; leather and leather footwear; palm oil cultivation; vegetable oil refining; sugar cane development and the manufacture of sugar and ethanol; power generation; fertiliser production; textiles and home furnishings; infrastructure and mining.
India and Ethiopia, of course, have long-standing economic and commercial relations going back centuries, but business ties between the two countries, especially in the area of infrastructural projects including roads, power projects, telecommunications and water resources, have grown significantly in recent years with the opening up of the Ethiopian economy. Bilateral economic relations have been moving steadily forward with growing private sector investment from India, with nearly 400 Indian companies now having investment licenses and nearly 100 operational. Bilateral trade figures show exports in both directions have been increasing steadily. Trade is currently worth US$500 million a year but is expected to increase significantly following the announcement of a Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme (DFTP) by the Indian government during the India-Africa Forum Summit. Ethiopia was among the first countries to accede to the scheme. Ethiopian imports from India currently consist largely of primary and semi-finished iron and steel products, drugs and pharmaceuticals, machinery and instruments, manufactures of metal, food items, plastic and linoleum products, paper and paper products, rubber manufactured items, yarns and textiles, machine tools, glassware, cosmetics and electronic goods. Ethiopia’s main exports to India include raw hides and skins, pulses, raw cotton, spices, leather and scrap metal.