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Turkish Companies Create Over 10,000 Jobs In Ethiopia As Relations Deepen

Turkish Companies Create Over 10,000 Jobs In Ethiopia As Relations Deepen

Turkish companies have created over 10,000 jobs in Ethiopia, making them one of the leading foreign investors in the troubled horn of Africa country on the back of deepening financial and political relations between the two nations.

The horn of Africa nation is the biggest recipient of Turkish Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the continent, attracting $2.5 billion of the total $6 billion by May.

“Currently, many Turkish companies have started their production and created more than 10,000 permanent jobs for Ethiopian citizens and their total capital reaches to $3 million,” Ayalew Gobezie, Ethiopia’s ambassador to the European nation told Anadolu Agency in Ankara, Turkey.

Trade between the two nations was estimated over $400 million last year, with Ethiopia mainly exporting coffee, oil seeds, cereals, leather and its products and flowers to its European ally.

Several Turkish investors are set to visit Africa’s fastest growing economy next month, mainly in the solar, hydro-energy, garments and textiles and agro-processing industries, in addition to supporting several infrastructure projects in the nation.

Two Turkish firms, Ayka Addis, a textile firm located in the capital, Addis Ababa and BMET Energy Telecom Industry and Trade Plc is one of the leading electrical cable factories in Ethiopia, in the restive Oromia state are two of the biggest foreign investments in the country.

Last year, the Exim Bank of Turkey approved a record $300 million loan for the construction of the 390-kilometer Awash-Woldiya/ Hara Gebeya railway, which includes 40-kilometers of maintenance lines, 10 power supply stations and 65 bridges, FBC reported.

Turkey has also been involved in efforts to fight the famine that has hit Ethiopia after failed rains last year, placing at least 10 million in dire need of food aid.

It provided $350, 000 worth in food aid to the state of Afar, Ethiopian News Agency reported.

The two nations have however, not had embassies in their respective capitals, despite enjoying strong diplomatic ties for the past 100 years since the reign of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey and Emperor Menelik 11.

They agreed to set up the embassies in Addis Ababa and Ankara respectively, after sealing land deals for their construction.

The increasing Turkish investments come despite the Oromia protests that led to attacks on foreign-owned firms including a textile plant owned by Saygin Dima of Turkey, in Sebeta town, which has employed about 1,000 Ethiopians since it started operations in 2012, Press Tv reported.