The European Union is to support the efforts to modernize and expand the industrial sector. The support is intended to create an enabling environment to allow Ethiopia to exploit its potential for industrial development to enhance the country’s economic development which is currently founded on agriculture.
The EU is committed to supporting the government as the country drawing lessons from Asia and Eastern Europe the project expects to be comprehensive in aiding economic growth through fine tuning policy making, building the capacity of institutions and supporting intermediary organizations by offering direct support said Xavier Marchal, Head of the European Delegation to Ethiopia.
The program is funded by 35 million pounds to support Ethiopia’s plans to accelerating private investments and industrialization. It promotes better cooperation between private and public sector to encourage investments and to enhance the capacity for export he said.
Four priority sectors which have the potential for development are textiles, leather products, clothing, pharmaceutical, and agri-processing.The development cooperation program with Ethiopia is amongst the largest run by EU in the world with disbursements in the past years amounting to an average of 200 million pounds a year according to Marchal.
The cooperation program focuses on three focal sectors: rural development and food security, transport and regional integration and macro economics and governance.
Source: Ethiopian Herald
