Ethiopia woos Saudi investors

JEDDAH:Jun 12, 2011 Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said on Sunday that he had been involved in fruitful discussions with the Kingdom’s top leadership including Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
“Aside from cementing historic bilateral ties, we discussed regional and international issues including Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea,” he told a press conference. Desalegn, who headed a high-level nine-member delegation that included Tekleab Kebede who recently returned to Addis Ababa after representing his country as consul general for 15 years here, said: “We will be further discussing a number of issues during the joint economic commission meeting coming up in September in Addis Ababa. The earlier such meeting was held in Riyadh two years ago.”
Ethiopia has a population of 81 million and its Muslim population, which stands at around 33 million, continues to increase. But that does not reflect in the number of pilgrims performing Haj every year, partly due to economic reasons. An average of 10,000 Ethiopians perform the annual Haj. Bilateral trade volume is around SR2 billion but this does not reflect the actual potential, he said, calling on Saudi businessmen to visit and explore the vast investment avenues available in a number of sectors.
“Ethiopia continues to create a conducive investment environment and we hope Saudi investors will take advantage of our vast potential for ventures and joint ventures,” he said, adding that Ethiopia has already initiated steps that could benefit the Kingdom in its ongoing program to provide food security for its increasing population.“What’s more, we have the best environment for investments and tourism because of a good climate, rich flora and fauna, attractive historic sites and sound infrastructure.”Ethiopia has become one of Africa’s investment destinations, he said and urged businesses and companies to explore opportunities to engage in agriculture, agro-processing, energy, infrastructure, tourism and mining.
“Ethiopia has drawn up foreign policy focused squarely on tackling economic backwardness, desperate poverty, lack of good governance and democracy,” he said.
“That is why economic diplomacy is at the centre of our foreign policy, as a nation seeking rapid economic development together with the objective of advancing democracy.“This is what we will reiterate, among many other things, during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s scheduled visit to Ethiopia on Monday.”(arabnews.com)