Ethiopia, Turkey Working to Boost Trade Exchange by Half-billion USD: Ambassador Alp

ENA,February 13/2020 Ethiopia and Turkey are working to boost their trade exchange from half-billion to 1 billion USD in a year, Turkey's Ambassador to Ethiopia Alp said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ambassador Yaprak Alp said the relationship between the two countries has been showing tremendous improvement, particularly the trade relationship.

Though the "trade relationship is growing very fast, our goal is to reach 1 billion U.S dollar annually. This is the target of both Turkish and Ethiopian governments," she revealed.

According to her, the government of Turkey is encouraging Ethiopian export and inviting anchor Turkish companies to invest in Ethiopia.

“The Government of Turkey has decided that Ethiopia be a target country for trade and investment. That is very important because Turkish potential investors are aided to come here and invest in Ethiopia. So that would be a major step forward that will have significant boost in trade and investment,” the ambassador elaborated.

She noted that Ethiopian Airlines is one of the drivers of trade relationship as it operates daily direct flight to Istanbul, Turkey's major city.

“Our investment is huge in Ethiopia. It is the first and the only Sub-Saharan country in which Turks invest 2.5 billion USD dollars,” Ambassador Alp said.

Turkish companies are highly engaged in textile, shoes, cable, beverage as well as infrastructure sector investment.

The number of Turkish firms investing in Ethiopia has reached about 200 and employment created by the firms reached approximately 20,000, according to Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ethiopia and Turkey established diplomatic relationship in 1896.