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International car manufacturer Volkswagen has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Ethiopia to collaborate and deliver a joint vision for the development of an automotive industry in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MoU was signed by Thomas Schaefer, Head of the Volkswagen Sub-Sahara Africa Region and Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Abebe Abebayehu in the presence of the Ethiopian Minister for Finance and Economic Cooperation, Ahmed Shide and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, who is on a state visit to Ethiopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The signing of the MoU paves the way for Volkswagen and the Ethiopian Government to commence high-level and technical collaboration which is integral to the development of an automotive industry and policy framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volkswagen will focus on four key pillars: the establishment of a vehicle assembly facility, localization of automotive components, introduction of mobility concepts such as app-based car sharing and ride-hailing as well as the opening of a training center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, Volkswagen will work closely with the Ethiopian higher education and training institutions for skills development and capacity building of local talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volkswagen is taking the fast development of the country into account. Over the last ten years, the GDP growth rate in Ethiopia was above 8 percent \u2013 one of the highest worldwide. Moreover, Ethiopia is a priority and focus country for Germany under the G20-\u201cCompact with Africa\u201d initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schaefer commented: \u201cAs one of the fastest growing economies and with the second highest population in the continent, Ethiopia is an ideal country to advance our Sub-Saharan Africa development strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethiopia becomes the third country in Sub-Saharan Africa to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Volkswagen. It follows Ghana and Nigeria, which both signed MoUs with Volkswagen in August 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volkswagen has been manufacturing vehicles in South Africa since 1951. In Africa, Volkswagen also has vehicle assembly operations in Algeria, Kenya, and Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under its TRANSFORM 2025+ brand strategy, Volkswagen is strengthening the regions and focusing on new up-and-coming markets. The Sub-Saharan Africa region plays an increasingly important role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the African automotive market is comparatively small today, the region has a bright look-out to develop into an automotive growth market of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International car manufacturer Volkswagen has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Ethiopia to collaborate and deliver a joint vision for the development of an automotive industry in the country. The MoU was signed by Thomas Schaefer, Head of the Volkswagen Sub-Sahara Africa Region and Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":12787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-embassy-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/loLktkpTURBXy8xYzYwNTNjZjc4MzhiNmE1NTFhMmU3MzhjNmI0YTE1MC5qcGeSlQM0AM0CuM0BiJMFzQMUzQG8.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12790,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12785\/revisions\/12790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethiopianembassy.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}