Ethiopia hopes to get bigger slice of South Korean investment

A South Korean business delegation held an official visit to Addis Ababa to explore trade and investment opportunities. The delegation that consisted of 21 individuals was led by the INNOBIZ Association in South Korea.
During the visit, delegations met with several government representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Ministry of Transport, among others.
During the opening of the Ethio-South Korea Business Forum that was held at Capital Hotel on Monday, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Aklilu Hailemichael stated that bilateral relations between Ethiopia and South Korea cemented by blood should be improved with economic partnerships for the mutual gain of both countries.
He further stated that Ethiopia will keep working hard to improve the business environment in the country to attract more investors.
“We are constantly improving the ‘doing business’ environment in Ethiopia we look forward to seeing more companies from South Korea invest in agro-processing, textile, apparel, renewable energy, information communication technology, biotech, pharmaceuticals and other sectors,” he said.
The delegation also met with officials from the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association (ECCSA) during the business forum. The Chamber’s President Melaku Ezezew stated that South Korean trade and investment involvement in Ethiopia has been increasing quickly and consistently over the last decades.
It was further stated that the total trade turnover between the two countries has reached over 1.8 billion USD and according to a 2007-2016 data, 39 South Korean companies are under operation, implementation and pre-implementation stages of investment with over 39 million USD in capital.
ECCSA’s president also stated that the business community in Ethiopia is interested in building a joint venture to have technology transfer, capacity building as well as attract more direct investment to the country.
The Chamber and the South Korean Business Company Busan-Ulsan Innobiz Association signed a memorandum of understanding to scale up small and medium enterprises in Ethiopia through the creation of a joint venture.
The business delegation also showed an interest in investing in industrial parks. Among the companies present, Young-HWA one of the largest manufacturing companies in Korea announced of its plan to establish an industrial park in Adama on 200 hectares of land, according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The industrial park is expected to create from 20,000 to 30,000 jobs.