The Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Associations and Addis Ababa University yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together.

The agreement will help in upgrading knowledge and technology transfer, and capacity building between the two institutions in order to strengthen the country's industry.

The signing of the MoU is based on the idea of supporting the government plan aiming to transform Ethiopia's agriculture-led economy to industrialized one.

It will also said to help in building capacity of the business community and the country's industrial competitiveness in the global market, according to Tassew Wolde-Hanna, Vice President, Research and Technology Transfer at AAU.

“Having worked hard over the last six decades in producing skilled manpower to the country, researches that have been carried out by the University are hardly known by the society and supported our industries", AAU President Dr. Admasu Tsegaye on the occasion.

The signing of the MoU would enable the university, to forge closer ties with industries, he said.

“It would also be seen as a new chapter that would allow the university to work closely with the industry sector to strengthen the university-industry linkage, and to identify challenges in the industries and provide possible solutions.”

Chamber of Commerce President, Mulu Solomon, who is also Vice President-Pan African Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PACCI), said the university must work on researches that meet the needs of industries in the country.

Addis Ababa University currently has over 270 graduate programs and over 14, 000 graduating students, including 1,700 PhD students, according to Dr. Admasu.

Source: Ethiopian Press Agency