Ethiopia, China and Germany will scale up their triangular cooperation in the textiles sector in Ethiopia with the project titled 'Sustainable Textile Investment and Operation in Ethiopia'.
- The pledge was made on Thursday at the international conference on triangular cooperation between Ethiopia, China and Germany at the United Nations Conference Center (UNCC) in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, news reports said.
- The three countries renewed their commitment to scaling up their triangular cooperation aiming at improving the environmental, social, and labour standards in the textiles sector in Ethiopia and beyond.
The overview: China remains the biggest investor in Ethiopia's textiles industry with $450 million.
- With a population of over 100 million, Ethiopia continues to attract more Chinese investors to its textiles industry. Currently, over 30 Chinese companies operate in Ethiopia.
- More than 80,000 new jobs have been created in industrial parks in the last Ethiopian fiscal year which ended on 7 July, with Chinese companies hiring the largest number of jobseekers, especially women.
The project: Collectively implemented by the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI), the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO), the project also aims to tackle global challenges and promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda African and Asian countries in the textiles sector.
- The project has been implemented through capacity development and awareness raising in the Ethiopian textiles and garment industry, focusing on Chinese investors and their Ethiopian business partners.
- In July 2020, the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MofCom), and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) jointly endorsed the triangular cooperation project: Sustainable Textile Investment and Operation in Ethiopia through a Memorandum of Understanding.
- This marked the official launch of the second triangular cooperation project initiated and developed under the framework of the Sino-German Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), the first one with an African country.
