Addis Ababa, 02 September, 2015 (WIC)- Japan is to establish an industrial park in Ethiopia within the coming two years, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Said.
Speaking at the Africa-Japan forum, Dr. Arkebe Oqubay, said Japan has put specific requirements to establish their industrial park in Ethiopia. The park is expected to be established within the coming two years, he noted.
Arkebe said Tokyo International Cooperation on African Development (TICAD) has been a very good platform for policy dialogue between the two countries.
“Industrial policy dialogue has been going on between Ethiopia and Japan every six months. We are going to see a dynamic change in the years to come since we would like to build an internationally competent economy,” said the advisor. We have a very successful venture with Japan in the area of adopting Kaizen Philosophy, Arkebe added.
Ethiopia has made public its intention to establish industrial parks across economic corridors of the country with a total investment cost of USD 10 billion in the coming decade. These industrial parks are planned to be established in Hawassa, Mojo, Adama, Dire Dawa, Debrebirehan, Kombolcha and Mekelle.
Japan has good diplomatic ties with Ethiopia which dates back to 1930. It is to be remembered that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan had been to Ethiopia at the beginning of 2014.
Japan is implementing Kaizen philosophy in Ethiopia in the past three plus years through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In adopting Kaizen Philosophy, the Ethiopian Kaizen Institute has been successful so far.
The Chinese industrial park called Eastern industrial zone has been operational for years now around Dukem town of the Oromiya Regional State, some 35 kilometer to the south eastern part of Addis Ababa while that of Turkey is in the process of development.
The six batch of TICAD is scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2016. It is for the first time that TICAD is scheduled to be hosted outside Japan since it was launched in 1993.