An Ethio-german business roundtable was held on Monday 14 November 2016 at Hilton Addis, during which a delegation from the Bavarian state of the Federal Republic of Germany has been briefed on investment and business opportunities in Ethiopia.
State Minister for Business and Diaspora Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Mr Regasa Kefale, addressing the delegation on the longstanding relations of the two countries stated, “Ethiopia and Germany enjoy excellent diplomatic relations that spans more than a century”. He expressed Ethiopia’s appreciation for the meaningful support extended by the German Government in the past half a century to the tune of one billion Euros under technical and financial cooperation, among others, on education, food security and agriculture. Mr Regasa pointed out that, the Ethio-German two way trade exchanges has witnessed a continuous growth in volume, which achieved last year half a billion US dollars. He emphasized on the “need to further increase and diversify trade opportunities” between businesses and governments of the two countries.
From German side, the head of the delegation, Mr. Ulrich Konstantin Rieger, Deputy Head of the Department for Internalization in the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, stated that the longstanding historical relation between the two countries should be further strengthened on the field of business and trade ties. The delegation composed of Bavarian state officials, business company heads from energy, construction and manufacturing sectors as well as university professors will enhance the already existing strong economic relations of the two countries, he added.
Mr. Fitsum Arega, the Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission has also briefed the participants on investment opportunities in Ethiopia, namely in the manufacturing, agroprocessing, energy and pharmaceutical sectors. In his briefing, Mr. Fitsum underlined the favorable investment conditions ranging from Ethiopia’s fast growing economy which he said was attracting massive FDI up to the well-oriented investment policy of the government. Bavarian state business companies which are engaged on manufacturing, energy and construction sectors will be successful in Ethiopia’s conducive investment environment, he added.
The Bavarian state delegation is expected to meet government officials of the Ministry of Education, Health, Science and Technology, among others.
Source: MFA Ethiopia
