Ethiopian industry pays tribute to Italy
20/07/2009
The Ethiopian government expects to increase export revenue earnings from leather and leathergoods to $500 million a year from the current level of $100 million within five years.
The minister for trade and industry, Tadesse Haile, has told local media that the government sees the leather sector as a an engine of economic growth, owing to its large livestock population. He said the government now intended to use support it has received from UNIDO and from the Italian government to promote Ethiopian leather.
The minister went on to say that it was help from Italy that had allowed the government in the African country to open the Ethiopian Leather and Leather Products Technology Institute (LLPTI). The Italian government donated more than $12 million to this project, and a new Italian fund for the Ethiopian leather industry was launched recently, he explained.
Under the new fund the Italian government has allocated EUR 2.6 million for the development of the leather industry in Ethiopia, Mr Tadesse said, with the money going toward technical assistance for tanners and leathergoods manufacturers there.
With a population of 78 million cattle, goats and sheep, Ethiopia has the tenth largest livestock herd in the world and, the minister insisted, is first in Africa. Last year, leather and leathergoods earned $101.3 million in export revenues.
At a recent industry gathering in Addis Ababa, UNIDO representative, Dr David Tommy, said that the industry in the African country had to promote ‘Made in Ethiopia’ as seomthing desireable. “Gone are the days when Ethiopia was known for famine,” he said. “It is now time for Ethiopia to be known for its high-quality products.”
At the same event, Italy’s ambassador in Addis Ababa, Raffaelo Delutio, said leather already represented Ethiopia’s second-highest earner of export revenues, after coffee, and confirmed that his government would continue to support the growth of the leather industry there.
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