Ethiopia has earned 610 million U.S. dollars from Chinese-built industrial parks, according to the Ethiopia Industrial Park Development Corporation (EIPDC).
Behailu Kebede, Marketing and Communications Department Chief at EIPDC, said that the 13 industrial parks have created job opportunities for more than 89,000 Ethiopians. “The textiles and other export-related produce by industrial parks have garnered good reviews by European and North American customers,” told the press on Sunday.
Ethiopia currently has 13 operational industrial parks, with several more expected to be commissioned during the current fiscal year. The most recent development on this front was the 200 million USD agreement finalised by the Oromia Industrial Parks Development Corporation for an agricultural processing park in the west of the Oromia region.
In recent years, the country has embarked on industrial park’ construction and commissioning activities as part of a broad economic strategy to make the country a light manufacturing hub in Africa by 2025.
For the success of this mission the Ethiopian government has attached great importance to cooperation with Chinese firms in various fields. These include the construction of industrial parks along with giant Chinese firms investing in various industrial hubs, the majority of which were built with Chinese expertise and finance.
China, Global Construction Review