Chinese Ethiopia Visit Stirs Investment Interest

The delegation of businessmen were especially interested in joining the hotel sector, which had left them disappointed..

By Ayenew Haileselassie

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – A group of Chinese businesses and businessmen are talking to a major British consultancy firm about huge investments they are considering in Ethiopia. This came after they visited the country in early May 2014. A group of leather companies are also expected to come sometime between now and September.

A delegation comprising of 23 companies, all in the manufacturing sector, including electronics, machinery and chemicals, came to Ethiopia for a visit that lasted from April 29 to May 4. The group – which came in the company of Girma Temesgen, Ethiopia’s Consul General in Chongqing, China, covering southwest China – was selected from a larger group of businesses that the consulate had been talking to with the assistance of China’s government and Chamber of Commerce, Girma said.

The group was able to see first-hand what the consulate had been telling them in words, said Girma, a career diplomat who had previously been a director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)for 20 years and who opened Ethiopia’s Consulate General in Frankfurt, Germany. After their visit, five of the group had crystallised their interests in three areas. These included Liu Yudi, Chairman of the Chongqing Shandong Chamber of Commerce and owner of several landmark buildings in Chongqing city; Dong Yintong, owner of several companies in real estate, transport and coal mining, who also owns two ships to transport coal, and Ram Jianguo, owner of Kailt Machines Plc, manufacturer of agricultural machines, pumps and engines, as well as the owner of a financing company, the Chongqing Beibei Rongde Micro-Credit Co Ltd.

Read more at: Addis Fortune