Ethiopia invites farmers from region

Claiming that there is a lot of scope for trade and investment in Ethiopia, Mehreteab Mulugeta, Minister Councilor (II), Economic and Business, Ethiopia, said participation in the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) 2010 had been fruitful as they had been able to work out the possibilities and opportunities of enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries — “especially the northern India and particularly Punjab and Haryana”. Speaking to the media here, Mulugeta said Punjab and Haryana being agrarian states Ethiopia was looking forward to benefit from their expertise in agricultural techniques and the latest technology being used here. Ethiopia, he said, had lots of opportunities in agriculture. “It has a lot of surplus land available for agriculture and the Ethiopian government provides with many facilities to the Indian farmers going there. The government has established a land bank under the agriculture ministry. A total of 1.7 million hectares have been reserved under this policy for foreign direct investment,” he said. This land, Mulugeta said, was given on a lease for 25 to 45 years. Anybody investing in Ethiopia is facilitated with a seven-year tax holiday. Moreover, he said, investors exporting 75 per cent of their produce were eligible for a loan to the tune of 70 per cent of the total project from local banks. “Any investor can repatriate 100 per cent equity to any country out of Ethiopia,” said Mulugeta. Ethiopia produces wheat, rice, oil seed and vegetables in addition to tea and coffee. Other areas where Ethiopia has a lot of opportunities for investment are real estate, infrastructure, hotel management, hospitality, hospital management and mining (gold, coal potassium, iron ore, limestone). Mulugeta said they were participating in PITEX for the first time to promote investment opportunities in India. He showed keen interest in Indian machinery, technology, auto components, agricultural implements, IT services, apart from infrastructure, manufacturing and the education sector.