Ethiopia’s move to ensure ease of doing business through conducting a range of reforms and establishing free trade zones is paying off in terms of increased investment and export earnings. Officials have highlighted that the permission to operate in the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone has enabled investors to benefit from the investment opportunities.
Following the national economic reform, the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) has implemented various initiatives to make the country more appealing and preferable among investors.
EIC Commissioner, ZelekeTemesgen (PhD), stated that the government has handed over working areas to seven of the 20 investors who have applied to engage in various industries located within the Free Trade Zone, while preparations are underway to put the remaining 13 companies into operation.
The Commission has also engaged in a variety of activities that have the potential to increase the country’s investment alternatives and prospects. Along with improving the quality and efficiency of the nation’s import and export trade, the country has prepared procedures that allow both domestic importers and exporters, as well as foreign investors to engage in wholesale and retail businesses.
The Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone’sability to set seven investors in operation, in addition to the previous ones, is an indication that the Zone has reached the phase where operations will enter into a complete system, the Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) CEO, FissehaYitagesu, (PhD) stated.
The free trade zone incorporates 316 residential homes for expats, 15 sheds, 4 hectares of open storage yard, 48 hectares of serviced land with full infrastructure, 1500 square meters of land for financial institutions, insurance companies, and other auxiliary service providers, shopping centers, showrooms, an exhibition hall, a waste treatment plant, and a one-stop service.
For the past ten years, the IPDC had operated under a framework that required investors to produce primarily on export items when they entered into industrial parks. However, the CEO expressed that the current reform permits investors to participate in a wide range of investment operations, including import, export, and logistics, among others. This will transform the country into a manufacturing hub in the Horn of Africa.
The IPDC works to attract more investors through improving coordination among sectors, expanding a single window service, avoiding excessive bureaucracies and so on. Therefore, Fisseha called on members of the business community to enter the free trade zone and benefit from the lucrative investment advantages.
Today, Ethiopia has established an economic environment that is conducive to investment and this smooth economic condition enables the nation to experience increasing export revenue. Trade and Regional Integration Minister Kassahun Gofe (PhD) stated that the country has secured over 3.28 billion USD from exports in the first half of this fiscal year, which shows a considerable improvement over prior years.
More importantly, according to Kassahun, permitting investors to establish operations in the free trade zones,significantly boosts the nation’s revenue from export-related economic activities.Operating in a special economic zone may be a new concept in Ethiopia, but investors can benefit from the favorable conditions offered by the free trade zone.
Ethiopia’s Free Trade Zones were established to reduce price inflation, generate income, increase economic activity and employment opportunities, attract foreign direct investment, boost global competitiveness and incorporation, and reduce illegal trafficking, gain regional advantage, and become the industrial hub of Africa.
BY EPHREM ANDARGACHEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 28 JANUARY 2025