Enterprise Carrying out Assessments for partially or fully privatization

Addis Ababa septembre 25/2018 An assessment is being conducted in order to facilitate the privatization of the state-owned Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise, fully or partially. The logistic sector is among the areas that the government of Ethiopia said to open for domestic and foreign companies. The assessment being underway at the Enterprise is part of the efforts aimed at deciding on how the privatization process should proceed, according to Roba Magarsa, CEO of the Enterprise. “We are under the preparation process, which means, we are conducting an assessment on our overall properties to know the amount of the resources that will be privatized. We are also identifying alliance fields that we can work with the private sector, and preparing legal and cooperation packages for the privatization”, he said. The assessment is aimed at identifying resources owned by the Enterprise, cooperation areas, and amount of share to be auctioned. Up on completion of the assessment and other preparations, a proposal will be presented on ways of privatizing it, number of shares to be transferred and other technical issues on the privatization process. By opening the logistic sector, Roba said the country could obtain additional capacity and resources that would accelerate the development of the sector. “Improving the private investors engagement in the logistics and shipping sector would strengthen the contribution of the private sector in transferring technological experiences, management skill and capital injection that would transform the sector and realize the country’s development”, he said. Roba said that the Enterprise is working in collaboration with the Advisory Council established to oversee the privatization process. The Council in which its members are drawn from various parts of the society including political figures, ministers, and media was established by the Prime Minister. He stated, “We are also working with the Advisory Board, to decide the tasks that can be done by private sector and by the enterprise and we believe that the privatization will bring additional potential for us and this will be the best opportunity to improve our shipping and logistic sector.” The CEO said privatizing the government would enhance the engagement of the private sector in the countries overall development. Similar assessments are expected to be conducted in other areas, which the government decided to open for the private sector. The government has decided to sell lesser portions of stakes of enterprises engaged in aviation, telecommunications, logistics, railway, and sugar industries, among others.