Ethiopia has taken advantage of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland this week to promote its investment friendly atmosphere, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said.
The Forum has created an opportunity for Ethiopia to confer with development partners and representatives of giant international companies, the Premier said. The Premier has discussed with leaders of various countries including Switzerland, China and UK on various issues. Hailemariam said the discussions were fruitful.
The discussions with investors and various company representatives was focused on four major areas, he said, adding that consensus was reached with them in the areas. Creating more jobs by modernizing the agriculture sector is the first focus area, he said. The discussion with companies that are desirous to engage in the agriculture sector was concluded with agreement to support agricultural transformation in the country.
The other priority area, substituting imported pharmaceutical products, was aimed at encouraging companies to engage in the sector thereby to substitute imports with locally manufactured products. The nation imports 80 percent of pharmaceuticals products to meet the local demand. The discussions held with a number of companies in this regard were successful.
Encouraging companies to engage in the ICT area thereby to improve national capacity is the other priority area. In this regard, consensus has reached with the companies to support the nation in the area, the Premier said. In the health area, the country’s desire is to attract companies engaged in health services especially tertiary health services, Hailemariam said. In this regard, agreement has reached with companies engage in the discussion to support Ethiopia’s efforts.
Hailemariam said that Ethiopia has taken advantage of the Forum to attract more companies in the priority areas and reached consensus with world leaders to further enhance ties.
Source: http://www.ena.gov.et
