Though they are far apart each other geographically, Ethiopia and China have been exercising exemplary economic,political and social ties as their relations date back to ancient times.
It may be difficult to tell the exact time when these two sisterly countries made the first direct contact but, there are some indicators that point to the first century. The sinologist A. Herman believed that a live rhinoceros that arrived at the court of Chinese Emperor Ping from the country of the “Agazi” or “Agazia” between AD 1 and 6 came from the Horn of Africa; however other sinologists locate that country far closer to China, perhaps in Malaysia, India or Indonesia.
Ethiopian expert Richard Pankhurst is certain that the Tang dynasty (618 – 907) “the Chinese were acquainted with at least part of the Horn of Africa and were trading indirectly with the Somali coast.” From that period onwards, China traded with not only Ethiopia and the Horn, but with the peoples of the Eastern African coast, obtaining elephants’ tusks, rhinoceros horns, pearls, the musk of civet cat, ambergis and slaves..
Recently,Sino -Ethiopia diplomatic relations have steadily improved , with increasing diplomatic contacts and growing trade and Chinese investment in the Ethiopian economy.
Fore instance last week the first China – Africa Expo was opened to the public in the capital of Africa, Addis Ababa and lasted for five days,. Many believed that the opening of such exhibition is the result of the sustainable growth in business sector between the two countries.
Stakeholders of the expo are highly optimistic that the expo will promote the business to business (B2B) networking between Ethiopian business persons and their Chinese counterparts.
According to Engineer Melaku Ezezew President of Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, China is becoming the largest trading partner of Africa.
“Statistics show that China surpassed the US in 2009 to become the largest trading partner of Africa. Bilateral trade agreements have been signed between China and 40 countries of the continent. In the year 2000 China Africa trade amounted to 10 billion USD and by 2014, it had grown to 220 billion USD” he stated.
Ethiopia is one of the highly benefited nations due to the bilateral trade agreement as to the statement of the chairman. “There are 602 Chinese projects operating in Ethiopia with a capital of more than 18.5 billion birr and have created 38 thousand permanent employment opportunity and 41,677 temporary employment” he added. China was praised by the chairman for doing this.
The President on behalf of the chamber expressed his beliefs and willing to provide strong support to the decision of China International Exhibition Center (CIEC) Overseas Echibition Co. Ltd. to stage the China – Africa Expo in Addis Ababa every year.
The convincing reason to say this is that Addis Ababa is the Seat of African Union and number of International organizations, so that the objective of the Expo can easily be accessed by stakeholders and partners, he noted.
Ministry of Trade and Industry Export Promotion Director General, Assefa Mulugeta expressed the pleasure of addressing the official opening of the first China – Africa Expo.
The director noted in his discourse that both Ethiopia and Africa are on the avenue of economic transformation which has obtained global witness. Manufacturing is thriving with a positive future though the encouraging change needs sustainability, as to him.
“One of the many possibilities that both Africa and Ethiopia have to do is steady moving the manufacturing transformation they have been experiencing. The organization of forums, conferences, B2Bs, exhibitions and expos like this one helps them in transforming knowledge, technology and experience” he emphasized.
This time, Ethiopia is one of the most dynamic nations in Africa which managed to register an awesome growth for over the last many years, according to Ato Assefa.
Ethiopian government is now on the verge of accomplishing the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) which targets at developing the manufacturing sector towards ensuring national devlopment. Nonetheless, the manufacturing sector needs to go a step forward, he hilighted.
To this end, though the share of Ethiopian Economy is dominated by agriculture, the government is pushing to form a structural change of shifting the agricultural – dependent economy to industry – led as an important aspect of the country’s economic development strategy, said the director.
Therefore, the director stated that it is high time to cooperation in industrial capacity building thereby fostering the use and benefit of technologies.
“We can therefore use this event as a platform for industrial capacity cooperation and to further enhance the existing business relation of China with African countries” he added.
Similarly, China International Exhibition Center Deputy Manager, Liu Jian said that the expo is beneficial to Chinese companies to explore potential market opportunities in Ethiopia and seek joint ventures.
The manager reaffirmed his country’s stance to furthering cooperation with Ethiopia in science and technolgy, manufacturing, commerce and other priority sectors.
As it was expressed in Ato Assefa’s discourse, the bilateral trade and investment relation of Ethiopia and China is mutifaceted benefiting both sides on a win – win principle.
As to him, the total import amount to Ethiopia in 2017 was nearly USD 4.85 billion whereas the export amount in the same period was only USD 288.1 million.
Herald December 11/2018
BY BACHA ZEWDE
