Official Press Release

EATIC Reports Excellent Results In Recent US Trade & Investment Mission To Ethiopia

November 15, 1999

Ethio-American Trade & Investment Mission to Ethiopia boasted concrete results. The trade delegation included 32 participants representing 27 small to medium size US companies. The Mission explored business opportunities focusing on sectors that the Ethiopian government has taken steps to privatize or increase private sector participations.

The Ethiopian government and the private sector demonstrated energetic support for the trade mission. The senior level officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; The Ethiopian Investment Authority, the Ethiopian and the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Embassy Officers joined in the VIP arrival formalities at Bole International Airport. The council also arranged Television and Newspaper interviews and invited media to attend functions throughout the week.

The week's events included several minister - level briefings and receptions. The Mission kicked off with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the U.S. Embassy welcome briefing on the commercial climate in Ethiopia, led by Minster Kasaun Ayele and U.S. Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy. The Ministers of Mines and Energy, Trade and Industry and Transport and Telecommunications gave short synopsis of the developments and performance in their sectors and highlighted opportunities for foreign participations. The General Managers of the Ethiopian Investment and privatization offices; the Ethiopian Tourism commissioner and the National Bank representatives concluded the morning meetings with additional briefings.

A roundtable discussion was organized by Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and over 200 members of the private sector joined to discuss the potential commercial sectors for investment in Ethiopia. These included Health Care; Tourism; Finance & Banking; Agriculture; Telecom; Constriction and Technology. The delegation devoted the rest of the week pursuing one-on one meetings and exchange ideas with government representatives and private sectors contacts. For an initial reading the Trade Mission already proved a success, with no fewer than twelve letters of intent or memoranda of understandings being signed between the US and Ethiopian companies.

As a final evidence of Ethiopia's support for the Trade Mission, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi met with the entire delegation for nearly two and half hours. The Prime Minister said the intention for expatriates to return and invest in their country of birth is making the Diaspora a ìNet Gainî for Ethiopia.

About EATIC
The Ethio-American Trade & Investment Council (EATIC - www.eatic.org) is a non-profit, non-partisan, tax exempt membership organization of corporations and individuals dedicated to strengthening and facilitating trade and investment between Ethiopia and the United States of America. The Council believes that it can best accomplish this goal through education, focusing on broadening the respective knowledge of various social customs, cultural traditions and economic climate of both countries.

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