The third assembly of AFLAI (African Federation of Leather Allied Industries) opened on October 6 in Addis Ababa. The show began on a stark note with Ethiopian trade and industry minister Girma Birru criticising the current state of the leather industry. He stated that the African continent’s share in the international hide and skin trade is less than 1%, and that most of this is through the export of raw or semi-processed material.

Girma said that Africa’s leather industry must play a “pivotal role” in enhancing technology, accessing market opportunities, and developing its human resources in order to fully “utilise the untapped potential and reduce poverty”.

The Ethiopian industrial development strategy has earmarked the leather sub-sector as a priority area for development. This has been started with such activities as the establishment of the Leather and Leather Products Technology Institute (LLPTI) with the support of the Italian government.

The ‘Meet in Africa’ project also includes the trade fair at which there are 269 exhibitors. The main donor for the show is the Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The CBI has been active since 1971, but became seriously involved in leather in 1997, when it joined the International Trade Centre (ITC) to launch ‘Meet in Africa’ and AFLAI - which began in 1998 in Cape Town. The Dutch Ambassador said the role of leather was “crucial” for Africa’s development.

 

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