Friday, June 18, 201

A delegation of Ethiopian dignitaries, including ministers, has been staying in India since the past 1 week in an endeavour to study the functioning of SMEs in the country. Besides focusing on the Indian SME sector, the African country also plans to monitor the functioning of the domestic healthcare and agricultural sectors. The landlocked African nation has sought India’s help to develop the agricultural sector in their country. Incidentally, only about 43% of Ethiopia’s total land area is used for farming. India shares a lucrative trade relationship with Ethiopia with bilateral trade volume pegged at US$263.6 million in 2008-09. Notably, India has already successfully invested in projects worth US$1 billion in Ethiopia. Some of the major areas of trade between the two countries are SME-centric segments such as paper and wood products, machinery, rubber, apparel, metals and agro-based products like sugar and cotton. Some of the most defined sectors where Indian SMEs can invest into in Ethiopia include pharmaceuticals, rubber, leather, textile, floriculture, paper, telecommunications and food processing. The infrastructure sector in Ethiopia being in a developing phase, construction and infrastructure-based Indian SMEs can also look into the country for business opportunitie

Sreemita Bhattacharya