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Ethiopia
worried over Djibouti port
tariff plan
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 ADDIS
ABEBA(July 10,2008) - Land-locked
Ethiopia sent its top trade official to Djibouti on Wednesday after
the Red Sea state said it would introduce a new tariff on port services.
An Ethiopian government source told The Daily Monitor that Trade and
Industry Minister Girma Birru was dispatched after Djibouti unveiled
plans to introduce the tariff with effect from August 15.
"The imposition of a new tariff without prior consultation would
be unfair and difficult to accept," the source said, without
giving details of the new tariff.
"The impact would hurt Ethiopia, which is suffering from inflation
and rising global food and oil prices."
Djiboutian officials could not immediately be contacted.
The country's port is Ethiopia's main gateway for imports and exports
after it lost the Red Sea ports of Assab and Masawa when Eritrea won
its independence from Ethiopia in 1991.
Ethiopian officials say Djibouti earns about $300 million a year for
handling some 4.6 million tones of Ethiopian goods.
The officials say the government and business leaders in Addis Ababa
are also concerned about Djiboutian plans to cut to eight days from
15 the period that Ethiopian goods can be stored at the port for free.
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