INDIA-ETHIOPIAN TRADE - FIRST MEETINGS OF JOINT TRADE PANEL February 28, 1998 The First India-Ethiopia Joint Trade Committe met in Addis Ababa on 25 and 26 February, 1998 to review the implemention of the provisions of the Trade Agreement. The Indian delegation was led by Shri P.P. Prabhu, Commerce Secretary, and the Ethiopian delegation by Mr.Brook Debebe, Vice Minister of Trade and Industry of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The leader of the Indian delegation had intensive exchange of views with the Ethiopian leaders. During his visit, Shri Prabhu called on he Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Minister of Finance, Minister of Water Resources, Minister of Economic Development and Cooperation and General Manager of Ethiopian Investment Authority. At these meetings, the Ethiopian leadership reiterated their desire to have extensive cooperation with India in all fields. The two sides reviewed the progress of bilateral trade and expressed their satisfaction on the increasing trend. Two sides also explored the new areas of cooperation in trade and investment and had extensive discussions on he ways and means of further enhancing trade and technical cooperation between the two countries. The new areas of cooperation identified were agriculture, water resources, power, electronics and computer software, telecommunicaions, drugs & pharmaceuticals, construction and consultancy, science & technology and small scale sector. The official delegation from India was accompanied by a high level business delegation headed by Mr.S.T.Vachani, Chairman, Electronics and Software Export Promotion Council. The business delegation had exttensive interaction with members of the Ethiopian and Addis Adaba Chamber of Commerce. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Elecronics and Software Export Promotion Council of India and Addis Adaba Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to be signed today. The visit of the Indian delegattion for the first Joint Trade Committee Meeting (JTC) is expected to give a fillip o bilateral trade and promote closer relations with Ethiopia. The next meeting of the JTC is scheduled to be held in New Delhi in the year 2000. |