Ethiopia,Turkey Working to Boost Trade Exchange to USD 1 billion

June 01/2018 Efforts are underway to bolster the bilateral trade exchange between Ethiopia and Turkey to 1 billion USD,Turkey's Ambassador to Ethiopia Fatih Ulusoy said. In an exclusive interview with ENA, the Ambassador said the parliament-to-parliament relationship between the countries has played big a role in strengthening their relationship. The trade exchange between Ethiopia and Turkey is low despite the longstanding relationship that transcends thousands of years, he added. The trade exchange between the two countries, which was 27 million USD in 2000, has reached 400 million USD. Ambassador Fatih Ulusoy revealed that extensive discussion have been conducted to boost trade and investment cooperation and push exchange of trade to 1 billion USD. He pointed out that 150 Turkish companies are engaged in Ethiopia and created 30, 000 jobs to citizens. The total investment of Turkey has reached 2.5 billion USD, according to Ulusoy. Many Turkish business delegations have been coming to Ethiopia to explore investment opportunities, he said, adding not a few of those may soon return to invest. “We frequently receive business delegations from Turkey and their visit is fruitful, and I hope that some of those will comeback with some ideas and projects,” the Ambassador elaborated. On the other hand, the parliament-to-parliament relationship plays big role in consolidating the bondage of the two countries, Ulusoy stated. The recent visit of Turkey's Parliament members to Ethiopia, despite the election campaign for the election in June in the country, clearly demonstrates Turkey’s partnership to Ethiopia, he said. According to the Ambassador, a high-level Turkish delegation will visit Ethiopia after the election. Turkish investment in Africa is reportedly 6.5 billion USD and trade exchange 17.5 billion USD.