The India Africa Trade Council-COMESA organized the India Ethiopia Trade Conference which was attended by the Business community in South India especially Tamilnadu. The President of Indian Economic Trade Organization Dr. Asif Iqbal welcomed the Ambassador of Ethiopia in India HE Dr. Tizita Mulugeta and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. Mr. Demesev Kebede Tekle, Minister (Business) also attended the event. There is a huge interest in India for Ethiopia, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development, Textiles, Garments and Industrial development by Indian companies.
The event was attended by the Head of MEA Secretariat Mr. Venkatachalam Murugan IFS who also spoke about accelerating India’s relationship with the African region and welcomed from Tamilnadu state to pledge support for the various other island nations around the region. Previously he was heading the East and South Africa (ESA) division in the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India. Dr. B. Ramakrishnan (BRK), Director of COMESA spoke about India’s efforts in strengthening relations especially when India is celebrating 75 years of India’s Independence. India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Ethiopia through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) for financing Industrial parks. An agreement was signed between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) in July 2020. Modern diplomatic relations between India and Ethiopia were established at the level of legations in July 1948, after the independence of India.
“As the Director of COMESA, my goal is to build bilateral relations reach new heights between India and Ethiopia and our forthcoming Indian delegation in May 2022 will see tremendous interest from the Indian side” said Dr. B. Ramakrishnan who is looking to connect the companies for business in Ethiopia. Indian delegation will explore opportunities in areas of Pharma, Vaccines, farming, poultry industry, meat processing and agricultural collaborations and they will also identify other opportunities for building up a robust infrastructure needs of the country in the field of setting up education institutions.
India Africa Trade Council (IATC) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in African region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which likely to increase as the Ethiopia market expands. The India Africa Trade Council previously hosted the Additional Secretary of the Africa region, Ministry of External Affairs during which the mechanisms between India and Africa were concluded.