Ethiopia, India Seeking Alternative Commodities to Narrow Trade Imbalance: Ambassador

Addis Ababa June 21/2019 Ethiopia and India are seeking alternative commodities of trade to narrow the trade imbalance between the two countries, India’s Ambassador to Ethiopia said.

Ethiopia exports mainly agricultural products to and imports medicaments, electronics, machinery and vehicles from India, making the trade balance in favor of the latter.

Ambassador Anurag Srivastava told ENA activities including identifying alternative commodities and studying their potential are being underway.

He said that study is being conducted on alternative commodities of trade to address the imbalance favoring India.

Noting that the trade relation between the two nations dated back to ancient Axumit civilization, Ambassador Srivastava said modern trade relations were further strengthened during the 20th century reaching about 1.2 billion USD at present.

The two countries are working in collaboration to address bottlenecks in the areas in order to improve Indian investment in Ethiopia as a means to address the imbalance.

Noting that Indian business persons were already engaged in Ethiopia for more than 100 years, Ambassador Srivastava said few of them have continued to operate.

Over the last ten years, more Indian business persons have come to Ethiopia to engage in various business areas, the Ambassador said.

He noted that more than 600 Indian companies are currently engaged in Ethiopia providing employment opportunities for more than 52,000 individuals.

Some 60 percent of Indian investment in Ethiopia which amounts to four billion USD is in the textile industry.

This has placed India among the top three countries whose companies are investing in Ethiopia, the Ambassador noted.