'Ethiopia offers competitive investment opportunity' – Abiy to G20 leaders

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday stressed the need for G20 countries to tap into economic opportunities reforms under his government presents.

Abiy used his address at the G20 Compact with Africa, CwA, summit to emphasize the importance of the private sector and key priorities of his government in attracting Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, in key sectors of the economy.

“Ethiopia offers a competitive investment opportunity. I will like to take this opportunity and mention the strategic engagement we just started ….as a concrete example of what the compact initiative can deliver when focused on targeted investment, recruitment and facilitation,” Abiy said.

Berlin was the second leg of Abiy’s three-city European tour which started on Monday in the French capital, Paris, where he met with President Emmanuel Macron for talks that spanned diplomacy, cultural, economic and political cooperation.

He is due to move to Frankfurt where he will meet with Ethiopian nationals as part of his peace campaign and efforts to woo them to contribute in positive ways to reforms underway back home. He undertook a similar tour of the United States few months back.

Abiy’s full statement

I am fully convinced that much of the employment opportunities comes from the private sector. Key priorities for the government of Ethiopia in this context are, attracting high quality foreign direct investment into productive sectors.

Calling up investments in productive infrastructure, skills development for enterprise, productive and competitiveness. Implementing investment climate reforms for business competitiveness – as well.

We have realized some remarkable achievements in some of these reform areas. We would like to see the Compact with Africa(CwA) initiative as a platform for supporting targeted foreign direct investment attracting from G20 countries.

Ethiopia offers a competitive investment opportunity. I will like to take this opportunity and mention the strategic engagement we just started ….as a concrete example of what the compact initiative can deliver when focused on targeted investment, recruitment and facilitation.

We would like to see similar, more investment from G20 countries and hope this platform continues to play a driving and catalytic (al) role.

As I conclude, I would like to assure my government’s commitment and seriousness to take all the necessary measures required to attract and retain investment to Ethiopia.

At #G20 Investment Summit in #Berlin, HE PM Abiy Ahmed made a case for investing in Ethiopia and outlined his key priorities: #Germany #Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/MXp3ZHWe2N

— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) October 31, 2018