BonelliErede is delighted to be sponsoring the workshop alongside the Italian Association of Foreign Trade (AICE) and Veronafiere, in collaboration with ICE.

Our Gianpiero Succi and Gianfranco Veneziano will be among the speaker, with ICE, Veronafiere, Unido, SACE, and the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Ethiopia in Italy, Mulugeta Alemseged Gessese.

The aim of the workshop is to better understand what opportunities are available for Italian businesses in the African continent generally, but particularly in Ethiopia

All this is seen in the light of changes in balances and new world scenarios, such as the collapse in commodity prices and the difficult transition to industrial economies of several countries in the area) that have not left Sub-Saharan Africa unscathed,.

Ethiopia is an emerging partner in sub-Saharan Africa for various reasons: its continuous and stable GDP growth (over 10% on average since 2004), openness to international investment, low labour costs , a market of nearly 90 million of young people, availability of domestic energy sources (particularly hydropower), and the presence of a limited Italian community but safe.

Trade with Italy reached EUR 365m 2015  – EUR 307m from Italian exports. The main types of exports include machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers. Imports, on the other hand, are concentrated in agriculture (coffee, oil seeds and other permanent crop products) leather tanning, and textiles. Indeed, our country is Ethiopia’s 9th largest customer, 5th largest supplier and 2nd largest trading partner worldwide. And within the EU, we are its top supplier and 3rd largest customer.