Posted on :Friday , 22nd March 2019

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the FDRE is committed to promote sustainable investments that contribute to inclusive economic growth, with job creation, knowledge transfer and capacity building. It works in coordination with F.D.R.E. missions and foreign representations in Addis Ababa.

This biweekly bulletin is prepared in view of informing the public and the diplomatic community on investment, trade, technology transfer and tourism activities undertaken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the opportunities in those sectors.

1. ETHIOPIA, TURKEY SIGN MOU ON COOPERATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION - Prof. Dr. Yekta Saraç, Chairman of the Council of Higher Education of Turkey, visited Ethiopia on 12th - 13th February 2019 and met with officials of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The meeting focused on subjects of common interest and areas of cooperation between the Council of Higher Education of Turkey and Minister of Science and Higher Education of Ethiopia . H.E. Dr. Hirut Woldemariam also briefed the guest on the Ministry’s activities and the various projects it undertook in cooperation with universities in Turkey and other international educational collaborations. Prof. Saraç expressed his interest and appreciation of these activities. To such end, Minister of Science and Higher Education of Ethiopia H.E. Dr. Hirut Woldemariam and Prof. Dr. Yekta Saraç, President of the Council of Higher Education of the Republic of Turkey signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in higher education to further strengthen their longstanding cooperation on education.

2. AMB. DEWANO KEDIR RECEIVES AFRICA FINANCE CORPORATION (AFC) - Permanent Secretary for Business Diplomacy, Ambassador Dewano Kedir welcomed Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Executive Director for Financial Services, Mr. Sanjeev Gupta and his delegation, together with Ibex Frontier Investment Consultancy Group Head, Zekarias Amsalu. AFC were part of the last November 2018 ”Invest Africa delegation “ now returning with significant investment deals to agree and sign with Ethiopian Government.

Mr. Sanjeev Gupta said that Ethiopia is under policy reform to liberalize the economy for privatization, and expressed his firm’s readiness to make use of the conducive investment climate in Ethiopia and engage in plethora of areas including industry, mining, power generation, and transport sectors in Ethiopia. According to Sanjeev Gupta, AFC wants to develop the power sector in Ethiopia with a special emphasis on industrial parks and other infrastructure development. “The Zero membership cost makes AFC unique and encourages countries to join and invest as well,”Mr. Gupta said.

Ambassador Dewano on his part briefed the Group on Ethiopia’s lucrative investment opportunities and expressed his government's commitment to support investors seeking to invest in Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s economy has registered a double digit growth for over two decades with stable growth. However, Ethiopia still faces significant development challenges he added.

3. ETHIOPIAN EMBASSY IN BRUSSELS HOSTED A BUSINESS ROUND TABLE ON INVESTMENT - H.E. Ambassador Grum Abay presented Ethiopia’s investment opportunities for representatives of different companies in Belgium at a “Round Table Business Launch’’ co-organized by the Embassy of FDRE in Brussels with the Chamber of Commerce of BelgiumLuxembourg-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (CBL-ACP), on 15 February 2019. In his presentation, Ambassador Grum focused on areas of investment opportunities and incentives available in Ethiopia. During the discussion that followed the presentation, participants raised questions on regional peace and security issues, scramble of foreign powers on the region of Horn of Africa, the availability of opportunities to invest on logistics sector, availability of foreign currency in the country, access to the ports, and infrastructure development in Ethiopia. In addition to responding to the questions, Ambassador Grum has also addressed issues of partial liberalization of state owned companies, as part of the ongoing economic reform in the country, positive impact of rapprochement with Eritrea for the stability and development of the region.

4. OCP TEAMS UP WITH ETHIOPIA TO BOOST AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION - Rabat – The Moroccan government has approved the creation of PanAfrican Fertilizers, the Moroccan OCP company’s subsidiary in Ethiopia, the Moroccan official gazette announced on February 11. Funded in part by the Ethiopian government, the newly-established company is expected to boost the East African country’s agricultural productivity. The creation of Pan-African Fertilizers cost a total of $50 million. The project was jointly financed by Morocco’s OCP and the Ethiopian Chemical Industry Corporation (ECIC), a body the Ethiopian government created in 2013 to monitor and develop the country’s industrial sector. The two companie OCP and ECIC will each hold half of Pan -African Fertilizers’ assets, with the Moroccan and Ethiopian authorities vowing to use the new venture as a platform to improve cooperation.