Page 74 - ie2 August 2019

WORLDVIEW

nificantly, especially in the areas of trade,
investment, agriculture and infrastructure ITME Africa 2020
projects. The economic dimension of the
bilateral relationship has now become its The Indian Engineering Pavilion in Ethiopia and will contribute to the development of the
most important. coinciding with ITME Africa 2020 to be held region in many ways. The foundation for this
Bilateral trade in 2015 stood at $1.2 bil- over 14-16 February 2020 in Addis Ababa, is growth mainly rests on the strong economic
lion, of which India’s exports to Ethiopia being organised by the India ITME Society, indicators, attractive growth potential and the
were over $1.153 billion and imports were Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral fact that the African continent is now the No.1
$55.1 million. Iron and steel products are Associations (ECCSA), and EEPC India. The destination for business prospects. The Indian
India’s major export items to Ethiopia, event will bring multiple growth opportuni- Engineering Pavilion in Ethiopia 2020 prom-
accounting for 17.2 percent of India’s to- ties for the engineering and textile industry, ises to become the focal point and catalyst for
tal exports to Ethiopia. It is followed by manufacturing, agriculture, water manage- economic growth, employment generation,
rice (12.7), pharmaceuticals (10.6), trans- ment, pharmaceuticals, airlines, hotels, and technology up-gradation in Ethiopia and
port equipment (5.6), machineries (5.5), transport, tourism and financial institutions, other countries in the African continent.
sugar (5.2), paper products (4.5), plastics
(3.3), rubber (3.2), and textile and cloth-
ings (3), percent, respectively. Major im- Political capital of Africa Addis Ababa, the city dwellers also partic-
ports by India from Ethiopia are pulses, Addis Ababa, which will host ITME Afri- ipate in animal husbandry and cultivation
precious and semi precious stones, vege- ca 2020, is the capital and largest city of of gardens. Some 677 hectares of land
tables and seeds, leather, and spices. India Ethiopia. As a chartered city, Addis Ababa is irrigated annually, on which 129,880
is the second-most important source of also serves as a capital city of Oromia. It is quintals of vegetables are cultivated. It is
imports for Ethiopia, contributing 7.4 where the African Union is headquartered a relatively clean and safe city. The city
percent of all of Ethiopia’s imports next and where its predecessor the Organisa- has recently been in a construction boom
to China. The areas with most promising tion of African Unity (OAU) was based. It with tall buildings rising in many places.
potential for investments in the country also hosts the headquarters of the United Various luxury services have also become
are agriculture, food-processing, leather Nations Economic Commission for Africa available and the construction of shop-
and leather products, textiles and gar- (ECA), as well as various other continen- ping malls has recently increased. Accord-
ments, horticulture, sugar and related in- tal and international organisations. Addis ing to Tia Goldenberg of IOL, area spa
dustries, chemicals industry, pharmaceu- Ababa is therefore often referred to as ‘the professionals said that some people have
tical industry, cement industry, metal and political capital of Africa’ for its histori- labelled the city, ‘the spa capital of Africa.’
engineering industry, tourism, construc- cal, diplomatic, and political significance
tion, mining, and oil and hydropower. for the continent. The city lies a few kilo- References
Leading non-agricultural sectors and metres west of the East African Rift which 1 https://indiaincgroup.com/africas-impor-
investment include renewable energy, splits Ethiopia into two, through the Nu- tance-india/
information technology and commu- bian Plate and the Somali Plate. The city 2 https://www.quora.com/What-positive-
nications (ICT), construction, tourism is populated by people from different re- aspects-of-Africa-are-unique-and-sets-the-
and aviation. Sub-sectors such as mobile gions of Ethiopia. It is home to Addis Aba- continent-apart-from-the-rest-of-the-world
banking services and outsourcing ser- ba University. 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_
vices, website software and technologies, The economic activities in Addis Ababa Continental_Free_Trade_Agreement
software development for e-Government are diverse. According to official statis- 4 https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/afri-
services, and ICT training services are tics from the federal government, some ca-free-trade-what-is-the-afcfta.html
going to be among the major investment 119,197 people in the city are engaged in 5 https://blog.nationalgeographic.
opportunities in the country. The ambi- trade and commerce; 113,977 in manufac- org/2013/10/31/getting-to-know-africa-in-
tious road construction and expansion turing and industry; 80,391 homemakers terestingfacts/
projects in the country also offers oppor- of different variety; 71,186 in civil admin- 6 https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/
tunities either to directly involve in the istration; 50,538 in transport and commu- connectivity-beyond-neighbours-indi-
construction work or export of construc- nication; 42,514 in education, health, and as-brimming-interest-in-south-afri-
tion machinery, chemicals, and building social services; 32,685 in hotel and cater- ca-through-the-asia-africa-growth-corri-
materials as well as consultancy and su- ing services; and 16,602 in agriculture. In dor-49182/
pervision services. addition to the residents of rural parts of 7 EEPC India Research

74 l INDIAN ENGINEERING EXPORTS l AUGUST 2019