Ethiopia leverages China Int’l Fair for Trade in Services to promote its trade, tourism potentials: Ambassador

Addis Ababa, September 15, 2024 (FBC) – Ethiopia is participating in the China International Fair for Trade in Services, or CIFTIS, is underway in Beijing.

This Chinese International Trade Fair is one of the world’s biggest platforms of its kind. Eighty countries, regions and international organizations have set up exhibitions.

Regarding the significance of Ethiopia’s participation in the trade fair, Ambassador of Ethiopia to China, Tefera Derbew, told CGTN that, “the outcome of this fair is we are able to promote our tourism industry, tourism sector. We have been able to network with potential Chinese partners. We have been able to conduct a forum which promotes our trade and tourism. Quite a significant number of Chinese potential partners has attended the forum and have given us their feedback. And their participation have been active, which clearly demonstrates the interest that Chinese partners have towards partnering with Ethiopia.”

Ethiopia and China have a strong bilateral cooperation, Ambassador Tefera said, adding that the two countries transformed their bilateral ties into an all-weather strategic partnership.

“Among the areas of cooperation, trade in services is one of them. We have signed different framework agreements in this regard. Currently, we are trying to assess the cross-border e-commerce. So far we have authorized three Chinese companies to open an online Ethiopian pavilion, so we can trade in service, we can promote our products and we can also sell our products to Chinese customers.”

While evaluating the performance of Ethiopian products in China, including coffee, Tefera noted that, “There is a general growing trend, but specifically coffee, its growth rate is really fast, because there is a growing demand from the young generation. Chinese people are currently consuming more of coffee, so we are very much satisfied with the current status of our trading with China.”

Apart from coffee, Ethiopia exports to China sesame, mung beans, kidney beans and other agricultural products, and has a plan to export products like cassava, he pointed out.

“We are working on diversifying the type of products that we export to China,” Ambassador Tefera added.