Ethiopia, EU Discussing on Furthering Cooperation

Addis Ababa July 02/2018 Ethiopia and the European Union are discussing in Addis Ababa on ways of further boosting economic cooperation. The two-say discussion that kicked off today is aimed at heightening the relationship between Ethiopia and EU in trade and investment. It will also serve as a prerequisite for the business forum that will be held in Brussels in October, Business Diplomacy Acting Director, Ministry of  Foreign Affairs, Areya GebreEgziabher said. According to him, assistance expected from the EU to realize the country's second five-year growth plan, development cooperation and climate change will be discussed in the meeting. On how to improve the capacity of Ethiopia in properly utilizing the tariff-free opportunity given by Europe - Everything But Arms - is also expected to be discussed. Ethiopia is among the countries that benefit from the initiative that allows least developed countries to export to EU except armaments duty-free and quota-free. The two sides will also discussed on ways of boosting EU investment in Ethiopia. More than 300 EU investment projects are being operational in Ethiopia. Ethiopia and EU have scaled up their relationship to a strategic level in 2016, focusing on six major areas. The strategic engagement includes cooperation in regional peace and security, countering terrorism and violent radicalization; migration; social and economic development; investment and trade; governance and human rights; and climate change.