A visiting Greece business delegation discussed with members of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association about the existing business and investment opportunities in Ethiopia.
During the occasion, Association deputy Secretarial General Yayehyirad Abate said that although Ethiopia and Greece have longstanding diplomatic relations, their relation in trade is low.
“In spite of the two countries have long relations, the trade relation of the two countries still very low compared to the potential and our import and export trade experience with several others countries.” he said.
The total trade volume between the two countries between 2009 and 2013 was over 83.2 million USD, according to him.
Ethiopia exports items such as sesame, coffee, beans and rose while it imports aluminum and medicine from Greece, among others he said.
The trade relation between the two countries has shown a ‘significant’ increase in 2013 with a growth rate of 34 percent, which he said demonstrates better performance in the future.
He explained the favorable business and investment environment and incentives for companies engaged in priority areas like energy, construction, agriculture and manufacturing, among others.
Greece Ambassador to Ethiopia, Nicolas Protonotarios said Ethiopia and Greece have enjoyed good people to people relationship.
Business to business relations such as this will help to boost trade and investment relation between the two counties.
According to the Ambassador, Greece investors are interested to engage in Ethiopia in the areas of real estate, construction, information and technology, agriculture and tourism.
Number of Greece investors engaged in Ethiopia is small, he said, adding, but they are showing interest to invest in Ethiopia since recent times because of mainly the country stability.
Three Greek companies, namely Alpha Grissi group, Alpha Innovations Sitic and M/C Agents group are in Ethiopia to assess the business and investment opportunities in Ethiopia.v
[ENA]