The first workshop designed to enhance cooperation between Ethiopia and India to bolster cooperation in enhancing the product, design and quality of the leather sector in Ethiopia was held this week.
Ethiopia has the largest resource of livestock in Africa which can serve as a reliable source of raw materials for the leather sector said the representative of Tadesse Haile, State Minister for Industry.
The country is not getting as much benefits from the sector in terms of exports and employment creation because of a range of challenges including lack of know how, technological deficiency, and limited market access said the Minister through his representative.
The sector is thus not contributing as much as it could to the national economy and a lot of hard work and collaboration with technologically advanced partners is vital to gain prominence in the international market he noted.The technological cooperation with the Indian Central Leather Research institute would allow for the modernization of processing techniques in the leather sector and allow for the full utilization of the raw materials available in the country to supply finished leather products to the domestic and international markets said Wondu Legesse, Director General of the Leather Industry Development Institute.
The cooperation is a benchmark to enhance the processing technologies of domestic leather industries and to enable products to meets the standards set by the global market noted Dr. A.B. Mandal, Director of the India Central Leather Research Institute through his representative.
It is expected that the cooperation will include efforts to improve the design, trends, quality and productivity of the leather sector in Ethiopia he said.
Source: Ethiopian Herald
