The Hindu Business Line : 184 Indian cos secure investment approvals in Ethiopia

As many as 184 Indian companies have secured investment approvals in Ethiopia till May 2006, the Ethiopian Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Girma Biru, said. The total quantum of approvals is around $500 million. Many of these are already in operation or at the project implementation stage.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the Capital on Wednesday, he said these companies had secured approvals in the fields of healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, engineering, plastics, consultancy, information communications technology, water management, textiles and hotels.

"Ethiopia has a five-year plan for accelerated development of infrastructure to facilitate industrial growth," the Minister said. This includes constructing 20,000 km of roads, boring 1,700 deep wells, building five large dams and adding 4.3 million fixed lines and 1.6 mobile lines.

Perks for investors

He said foreign investors got a tax holiday of one to five years and exemption on import duty on plant, machinery, equipment and raw material. Companies were allowed to carry forward losses even after the tax holiday was over for up to five years. There were no restrictions on the repatriation of profits, interest payments or personal income derived from approved projects. Ethiopia also offers investors land at highly concessional rates. "The Government has constitutional guarantees against expropriation or nationalisation." Ethiopia was also a signatory to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agreement.

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