Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has launched its first-ever free trade zone, the Dawa Free Trade Zone.
According to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, the Dire Dawa Industrial Park and the dry port along with the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway station formed the first phase of the free trade zone.
The Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone is expected to reduce logistics time and cost, improve efficiency and trade competitiveness, attract more FDI, boost urbanization and industrialization, and eventually boost the country’s economy.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, inaugurating the country’s free trade zone said on Sunday, affirmed that such zones are very important to facilitate export and import. He stated that free trade zones will be multiplied in a way that will enable competition with the global trade system.
“The Free Trade Zone we are building is one of our ways to integrate into a rapidly changing world. I have no doubt that the zone will not only facilitate trade and investment but also enhance our technological capabilities,” Abiy said in a social media post.
The Dire Dawa city was selected to host the country’s first free trade zone due to its proximity to ports, market potential and huge cargo gravity as well as suitability for multimodal transport and logistics operation, according to the Ethiopian government.
(Photo – PM Office)
