Ethiopia receives $10mln backing from KOICA to promote leather industry

Addis Ababa, October 11, 2022 (FBC) – FDRE Ministry of Industry (MoI) and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Ethiopia office have signed an agreement to support a Project for Enhancing Competitiveness of Leather and Leather Products Industry in Ethiopia.

Both Ministry of Industry and KOICA have released a joint statement regarding the  agreement.

According to the statement, the project will be implemented for a period of four years, from 2022 to 2027 with a total budget of 10,000,000 USD.

The project aims to promote the leather and leather product industry in Ethiopia, to increase the competitiveness of the leather and leather product industry, to contribute to the job creation and economic growth of the country.

The project will also be benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprises engaged in the leather and leather products sector in productivity, capacity building, infrastructure and market development.

In addition, the support will be benefiting the leather and product sector support institutions by providing the production machines, developing infrastructure and providing capacity building programmes.

It is believed that the project will have an irreplaceable contribution to the national initiative “Let Ethiopia Manufacture” (ኢትዮጵያ ታምርት) being mobilized by the manufacturing sector.

The agreement is signed by and His Excellency Mr. Tarekegn Bululta, State Minister of Ministry of Industry and Mr. Lee Byunghwa, Country Director of KOICA, Ethiopia Office.

The statement further mentions that MoI and KOICA will be mutually be engaged in the planning, coordination and implementation of the Project.

It is to be remembered that KOICA has signed Memorandum of Understanding with Ministry of Finance to support two program areas in 2022 for the Ethiopian government and the project signed with Ministry of Industry is one of such programs.

KOICA is a bilateral aid organization representing the republic of Korea supporting the development of Ethiopia for the last 27 years since 1995, currently focusing on manufacturing, health, climate change and peace.