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Trade Mark East Africa, a non-profit organization, signed an agreement with Ethiopia to open a new office in Addis Ababa. Professor Afework Kassu, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Frank Matsaer, Executive Director of Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), signed a host country agreement today. The Minister said Ethiopia is undergoing socio-economic reforms which need regional economic integrity. The Minister appreciated the decision of the organization to open office in Ethiopia and said the government would assist in the process.

Ethio telecom introduced new tariffs on August 22, 2018. The company made massive tariff reductions on Mobile Voice, Mobile Internet/Data, Mobile SMS, M2M Package and Fixed Broadband usage tariffs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Ethiopia attracted USD 4.1 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 2017/18 fiscal year. According to the Ministry’s spokesman Ato Meles Alem, the country was able to draw 156 big companies whose combined capital is over 4.1 billion US dollars.

Ethiopia plans to generate USD 240 million from the textile sector in the 2018/19 fiscal year. The textile and garment sector is a prioritized industrial sector by the government. The sector is expected to offset the country’s hard currency shortage. The country was able to gain USD 110 million, which is 46% of the expected outcome, in the 2017/18 fiscal year from the garment and textile sector. According to the Minister of Industry, Bogale Feleke, the failure in achieving the plan is caused by lower exports, shortage of cotton, lack of trained manpower, and instability in some parts of the country.