China is an ideal place, from which, Ethiopia is keen to attract investment in the manufacturing sector, said Arkebe Equbay, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The official also said China is among the major countries from which lessons could be learnt in the development of industrial parks.
Arkebe was speaking on Tuesday during a Workshop organized in connection with Africa Industrialization Day in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, which has deliberated on industrial parks development. The Workshop has been organized by Ethiopia and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, whereby it focused on sharing experiences on the development of industrial parks in Ethiopia.
Arkebe has made presentation on the topic, "Industrial Parks within the Framework of Ethiopia's Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization," during the session that dwelt upon achievements, opportunities and challenges in industrial park development in Ethiopia.
In its move to achieve a middle income status by 2025, the Special Advisor said Ethiopia focuses on three pillars including, transformation of agriculture; transformation of the export sector; and also the development of manufacturing sector. Arkebe told Xinhua in particular that his country's investment promotion is targeted on the manufacturing sectoring, for which China is an ideal place.
"The industrial parks are being developed first and foremost to attract new investors and among investors, one of the key players are investors from China," he said. "China is among these origin countries we would like to attract foreign direct investment and definitely they are an ideal candidate for the targeted manufacturing investment," he added.
During his presentation at the Workshop, Arkebe pointed out that lessons could be learned from the experiences of China and other successful countries in the development of industrial parks. He also stated that the industrial parks developed in the country have created 9,000 job opportunities, of which 6,000 jobs were created by the Eastern Industrial Zone developed by the Jiangsu Qiyuan Group, a private investment from China.
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