India Business Forum

            India Business Forum (IBF) was jointly launched by H.E. Mr. Tadesse Haile, State Minister of Trade and Industry and Her Excellency Ms. S.U. Tripathi, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of India, on 29th October 2005 in Addis Ababa. The Ambassador of India, members of Indian business community, representatives of Indian companies, professionals, Chambers of Commerce, and the media were present.            

India is a growing partner of Ethiopia in the commercial and economic field. The Embassy has been making efforts to mobilize greater private sector investment from India and assist in realization of Ethiopia’s developmental goals. During the last few years, a number of Indian companies, consultants and professionals have come to make investments and execute various projects, specially in infrastructure development like roads, power, telecommunications and water resources. Till May 2006, 184 private Indian companies have obtained investment licenses from the Ethiopian Investment Commission, with a total capital of US$ 350 million. Many of these are in operation or at project implementation stage. Of this, 73 companies have capital of more than US$ 1 million, including 73 companies with more than US$ 5 million capital.  These cover different sectors like agriculture and floriculture, engineering, plastics, consultancy and ICT, water management, cotton and textile, leather, education, hotel and restaurant services, vehicle rentals, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

The Regional Conclave for Eastern Africa held in Addis Ababa on 28th April offered a unique opportunity for participating Indian companies and members of the IBF to interact with several Ethiopian companies, institutions and banks. The IBF made its own contribution to disseminate information on the Conclave and to make it a success.

The objective of the IBF is to bring together these Indian companies, businesspersons, professionals and consultants onto a common platform for greater interactions and share their perspective. A closer coordination with them would contribute to enhance engagement with Ethiopia in the commercial and economic field and to carry it forward with greater vigour.  Besides, it would provide opportunities for networking and sharing of information on emerging opportunities. The Embassy would provide assistance to engage them with appropriate Ethiopian companies, authorities and institutions for developing the India-Ethiopia partnership into more diverse fields.

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Second Anniversary of India's Business Forum

 

 

India Education Forum           

            There is a large presence of Indians in the educational field in Ethiopia.  About 400 Indian professors and lecturers are working in various faculties in 8 universities in Ethiopia under Government contract.  In addition, there are some lecturers as well as teachers working in private educational institutions like Unity College, Indian National School, Sandford School, etc in Addis Ababa.  Schools run by Indian entrepreneurs in partnership with Ethiopians have also come up in recent years.  Since the Ethiopian Government is keen to enhance the tertiary educational facilities by establishing more universities in the country, the number of Indian professors/teachers are expected to increase in future.

            The Indian Education Forum (IEF) was launched on 26 November 2005 in a function attended by 200 educationists from all walks of life.  The outlining idea of IEF is to use the synergies of Indian educationists for curriculum development of the universities in Ethiopia and also to highlight the merits of Indian education system for the benefit of Ethiopian students.  The Forum will also be a platform for conducting seminars, symposia to propagate the strength of Indian education all across Ethiopia. 

            The Forum is also envisaged to act like a think-tank to chalk out a series of activities for educational development in Ethiopia.  The activities of the Forum would include:

(i)            Organisation of Educational Fairs in Ethiopia by various Indian universities so that Ethiopian students can get a choice of suitable university/college for study in India;

(ii)            Conduct of periodical Book Fairs/Exhibitions to popularise Indian books in Ethiopia;

(iii)            Encourage Indian book publishers and exporters to have interaction with Ethiopian authorities/buyers in order to promote cost-effective Indian books, which is a great attraction in Ethiopia;

(iv)            Popularisation of Indian medical journals for improving the medical education in Ethiopia;

(v)            Encourage the universities in Ethiopia to have more interaction with Indian universities in order to have tie-ups in education as well as exchange of students;

(vi)            Popularisation of economic and scientific journals to give wider scope for business as well as economic and scientific development of Ethiopia;

            Under the IEF, an Education Fair was organised by the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) in Hilton Hotel on 8 April 2006 in which 15 affiliated colleges participated with the offer of education in cutting edge technology areas like bio-technology, bio-informatics, ICT, computer education, management, fashion design and pure sciences.  200 students attended  the Fair.

            A 10-member expedition called Gondwanaland Expedition visited Ethiopia between 6-17 May 2006 and had interaction with the scientific community in Ethiopia for exchange of information regarding African rift valley environment and its flora and fauna.

H.E. Mr. Mohd. Ali Ashraf Fatmi, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, had a meeting with professors and lecturers and other educationists on 23 May 2006 under the auspices of India Education Forum.

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