Ban on beans import from Ethiopia lifted

FAISALABAD: Ban on beans import from Ethiopia has been lifted and flights between Karachi and Addis Ababa will start soon, designated-ambassador of Pakistan to Ethiopia Shozab Abbas said on Tuesday.

Addressing a meeting in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he said bilateral trade between Pakistan and Ethiopia is only around $ 50 million, out of which the share of export from Ethiopia to Pakistan is $49 million.

“Pakistan is hardly exporting different goods worth $1 million only”, Shozab said. Regarding the economy of Ethiopia, he said the growth rate of this country remained at 10 percent during the last 10 years; however, corona dented it to 4 percent. He maintained that total exports of Ethiopia are $ 5 billion while its imports stood at $15 billion. Three major exporting countries to Ethiopia are China, Saudi Arabia and India. He clarified that India has to give credit lines to make exports to Ethiopia. Shozab said the population of Ethiopia is consistent of Muslims and Christians. Their population is almost equal but Muslims are dominating business sector and he will try his optimum best to link Ethiopian Muslim businessmen with Pakistani exporters to give a quantum jump to the bilateral trade between the two countries.

He said predominantly Ethiopia is an agriculture country and Pakistan has scope to export agriculture machinery and appliances with technology transfer to this country. He clarified that there is no scope of textile exports as about four Pakistani firms from Karachi had relocated to Ethiopia about 10 years ago and they are now fully catering to their domestic needs. He mentioned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who was plumed with Nobel Prize due to his visionary approach to settle the long standing territorial issue with Eritrea. He said Ethiopia has built a major dam with an estimated cost of $ 6 billion and this amount was generated from their own resources.