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The Ethiopian Home and Office Décor Expo, 2011 was dominated by imported goods it was said. The Expo was organized at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center by the HPP Exhibition Company, Netherlands.

Various furniture companies took part in the exhibition, while products on show were said to be imports from East Asia.

Customers opt for imports because they can’t find what they want locally produced said Meron Hailu General Manager of Dream Furniture. Dream furniture imports furniture from Malaysia where good leather and bamboo products are to be found according to Meron.

An increasing number of people in Ethiopia purchase counterfeit software unintentionally according to the Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft loses an approximate 240 million birr to software piracy annually in Ethiopia.

Piracy adversely affects economic growth in Ethiopia as illegal software cannot create jobs for students, IT professionals or developers according to Eric Odipo, Channel Lead, Microsoft East and Southern Africa. 

India is considering an additional loan of 300 million US dollars to finance Ethiopia’s railway project according to a senior Indian official visiting the country.

India has already agreed to finance 300 million US dollars for the railway project between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The funding made available for the railway project is part of India’s support for regional integration in Africa said Ambassador Gurjit Singh, Indian Ministry of External Affairs Additional Secretary.

India is to establish a Barefoot Training College, an ICT Center and a Farm Science Center in Ethiopia as part of the pledge to support 80 capacity building institutes in Africa at the Second India-Africa Forum Summit held in Addis Ababa last May.

The new institutions will be in addition to the Vocational Training Center agreed upon at the first India-Africa Forum according to Bhagwant Bishnoi, Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia speaking at the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation and International Students day event held at the Hilton Addis Hotel.

Two Indian leather development institutions said they were determined to make Ethiopia one of the top 10 countries in the world in shoe and leather manufacturing in three to five years.

Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) and the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), Indian government institutions, are going to work with the Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute (ELIDI).

The Indian institutions said they would transfer technology and help accelerate the growth of earnings from Ethiopia's leather and leather products export.