Addis Ababa, May 26 – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi projected Ethio-India trade relation to grow to one billion dollar in four years time.
Holding the first ever bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India in Addis Ababa, premier Meles said that both countries are confident that the trade relation would increase from where it currently stands.
Over 400 Indian companies are investing in Ethiopia with a registered capital of 4.5 million dollars. They are mainly engaged in agriculture, textile, leather and leather products, ICT and mining.India, which provided lines of credit of some 700 million dollars to Ethiopia over the past five years, has pledged to provide another 300 million dollars in credit for the Ethio-Djibouti Railway project. India has also decided to set up a technical and vocational training institute in Ethiopia.
Meles, who hailed his meeting with Singh as the most fruitful he ever had, added that the two leaders have also agreed to strengthen military and security cooperation.
The Prime Minister also downplayed claims of land grabs in Ethiopia and pleaded with Indian investors to ignore what he referred as the ill informed and ill intended campaign.
According to the Prime Minister there is three million hectares of unutilized land prepared and ready for investors in Ethiopia, out of which only 10 percent have been allocated.
“It [allocation of land] is done on the basis of a transparent arrangement and lease based,” Meles told journalists. “There is no land grabs in Ethiopia, has never been and never will be”.
Prime Minister Singh commended the overall economic development of Ethiopia as ‘exemplary’ for the rest of Africa and invited Prime Minister Meles to visit India.
Singh is expected to address parliamentarians today before his official bilateral visit ends later the day.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 May 2011 )
source...waltainfo.com
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