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Indian
investment in Ethiopia reaches $1.8 bln
TATA Int'l opens
office in Addis
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ADDIS
ABEBA(July 19 - 20,2008) -The
total investment in Ethiopia by 351 Indian companies has become 1.8
billion USD as at April 2008, in a sign of marked surge in number
and size of investment from the emerging economy.
According to the Embassy of India in Addis Ababa, this was revealed
at the inaugural on July 16, 2008, of a liaison office for TATA International,
a member of the Tata group, India's best known industrial group, in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The embassy said a 3-member delegation form Tata International led
by their president R. Balasubramaniam visited Ethiopia earlier this
week.
According to the embassy, the delegation called on Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi and had a meeting in the Ministry of Trade and Industry
and with Ethiopian government and private sector representatives.
Established in 1962, Tata International has evolved from an export
house into an international business company with a global turnover
of USD 850 million in 2006-07, according to a statement from the Indian
embassy.
Its business lines include leather, engineering and pharmaceutical
products, said the statement adding besides' its trading house profile
the company has stakes in mining, five star hotels, distributorships,
trailer and railway wagon manufacturers and IT ventures.
Meanwhile, the embassy announced that, another Addis Ababa-based Indian
company M/S Universal Metals & Minerals PLC won the bid to take
over Akaki Metal Products and Ethiopian Iron & Steel Company on
July 15, 2008 with an outlay of USD 30 million.
It said the company was planning to scale up the production of steel
products specially corrugated sheets, pipes and the like and to expand
its processing unit for scrap metals.
The embassy added that, during the 6th International Conference on
the Ethiopian Economy organized by the Ethiopian Economic Association
at UNECA, the Ambassador of India stated that in the last 3 years
the surge of Indian FDI has risen from USD 40 million in 2005-06 to
USD 153 million in 2006-07 and a further USD 706 million in 2007-08.
"India is now the 5th largest investor in Ethiopia though in
2007-08 investment from India was the largest among all countries,"
the Embassy said.
It said the ambassador also pointed out that in 2006 India gave the
first Line of Credit (LOC) of USD 65 million to support the rural
electrification program and another LOC of USD 640 million over a
period of five years in 2007 for the development of the sugar sector,
which were significant breakthroughs which also encouraged the private
sector to invest in Ethiopia.
The embassy said that created a new stage of cooperation with high
expectations and a desire to' met them-on both sides.
"The result of the India Africa Forum Summit held in April 2008
added a greater momentum since India has decided to enhance the provision
of soft loans to Africa to USD 5.4 billion in a period of five years
from 2008," said the statement in conclusion.
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