A day-long workshop has been held in Addis Ababa on Tuesday intended at identifying bottlenecks in the export sector in Ethiopia. The workshop also targeted maximizing joint efforts to boost export.

Organized by the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry, the workshop involved investors and other stakeholders as it set out to identify barriers and hindrances in the export pipeline. 

Teka Gebreyes, Ethiopia's State Minister of Trade and Industry, on the occasion, mentioned the export sector is faced with "critical problems" as the performance of the sector is low and stagnant. This appears more pronounced when seen in the light of the ambitious plan Ethiopia is embarking on, which calls for remarkable results to be achieved for a significant difference to occur. For this to happen, Mr. Teka pointed out, several stakeholders need to be involved, not just the government or a handful of organizations.

Nonetheless, the state minister said, the Ethiopian government has carried out various measures, including home-grown economy reform, which is expected to improve export.

Foreign currency allocation, working capital, power fluctuation, logistics, lack of skill and attitude of the workforce, and proper provision of incentives have been raised during the workshop among the challenges that are impeding export. 

Participants of the workshop emphasized the need for taking immediate action towards quality supply of raw materials through conducting research. They also called the government to revise the voucher system and Value-Added Tax (TAX) schemes, including other benefits, that would encourage investors.

Inputs obtained from the workshop are to be used to enrich and issue a legal document that could scale up export by supplying quality and quantity products, it was learned.

Source: ENA