Foreign Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom met Murray McCullly, Foreign Minister of New Zealand on Thursday last week (October 1), in New York. Mr. McCully noted that since the signing of a food security partnership between the two nations in 2014, progress has been made in two aspects. Following the signing, Fonterra, New Zealand's biggest dairy company, had been working on forging a partnership with an Ethiopian company.

A memorandum of understanding had also been signed between New Zealand, the Gates Foundation and Global Goods on the sidelines of the General Assembly as an important step in providing for New Zealand to share its rich experience in dairy farming and help improve productivity of Ethiopian farmers. Minister McCully also underlined that New Zealand was interested in taking part in Ethiopia's renewable energy development.

Dr. Tedros stressed the need for signing agreements for investment protection and the avoidance of double taxation to encourage investment. Citing the four billion dollar geothermal investment of the Icelandic company, Reykjavik, Dr. Tedros underlined the major importance Ethiopia attaches to renewable energy production in its bid to build a green economy. He assured Mr. McCully that the Government would provide full support to New Zealand companies venturing to participate in Ethiopia's energy development. Dr. Tedros invited the Minister to visit to Ethiopia and he might include representatives of New Zealand businesses in his delegation to encourage investment in Ethiopia. The two sides agreed to work on draft investment guarantees and to sign agreements during the visit of Minister McCully to Ethiopia.

Source : http://allafrica.com/stories/201510052662.html

Over 300 Italian firms crowded Milan’s Stelline Conference Centre on Monday to attend the Ethiopia Trade and Investment Forum.

The event was organised by the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation during celebrations for Ethiopia’s National day at the Milano Expo 2015.

The Forum, which included a presentation on Ethiopia and the trade and investment opportunities that the country can offer to Italian companies, was attended by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who headed a large delegation of officials and businessmen, and by Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni. The Forum was opened by ICE president Riccardo Monti, who emphasised the Agency’s interest in the Ethiopian market.

He said: “Today Ethiopia represents one of our three main targets in Sub-Saharan Africa; we have recently opened an ICE office in Addis Ababa and we are ready to invest sizable resources to help our companies settle in this important market, also through the insurance and financial instruments made available by Italy’s SIMEST and SACE.”

At the end of the Forum, a large number of Italian companies were given the opportunity to meet with Ethiopian firms representing the country’s main economic sectors including infrastructures, the agro-food industry, the textile and leather industries, the pharmaceutical industry and the construction sector.

Source: http://www.ethiosports.com/2015/09/22/milano-expo-2015-over-300-firms-attends-ethiopia-trade-investment-forum/

Ethiopia government has promised a "bright future" for foreign investors in the country’s mining sector.

Ethiopian Minister of Mines Tolesa Shagi on Friday called on development partners to join the country’s efforts in boosting the mining sector development for mutual benefit.

Speaking at a two-day international mining conference in Addis Ababa, the minister explained Ethiopia’s mineral and petroleum potentials as well as development achievements in the mining sector.

"The future is bright for investment in mineral, oil and gas industry, upstream, midstream or downstream in Ethiopia," said Shagi.

Read more at: http://www.coastweek.com/3839-Ethiopia-government-encourage-foreign-investment-in-mining-sector.htm

Ethiopia has been doing its best to reduce poverty by creating enabling environment to attract foreign investment here thereby creating job opportunities, boosting exports and diversifying the economy.

This has made Ethiopia one of the preferred destinations of investment in the Horn of Africa as it has strengthened the already flourishing business and trade partnership with foreign and domestic private sectors.

At the opening ceremony of the workshop organized by the U.S. Commercial Service in Ethiopia with the cooperation of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce yesterday, U.S. Ambassador Haslach said that the show of interest by 10 American companies to invest in Ethiopia in business and trade can be taken as a positive message. She also said that the recent visit to Ethiopia by President Barack Obama further created confidence among US business persons to come here and operate.

Source: - http://allafrica.com/stories/201509150793.html