A Team led by Deputy Head of COMESA Coordinating Unit of Ministry of Trade of Sudan Visited Different leather development related institutions in Ethiopia and held a discussion from December 18-22 2017.
The general objective of the visit was to share experiences and create Networking with different institutions focusing on leather development and COMESA related activities in Ethiopia.
The Mission visited and held a discussion with Leather Industry development institute of Ethiopia (LIDI) the first day to get experiences regarding the leather development policy and support areas of the Government of Ethiopia. The Team was hosted by the representative of Director General of LIDI and Visited the facilities of LIDI in supporting the industry like Model tannery, Model footwear factory, model Leather garment and accessories and research laboratory divisions in which the sector supported based on the demand and recommendations.
The visitors were impressed by the Government commitment to support the Leather industry particularly. The Team also got information about COMESA/African leather and Leather Product Institute activities in general and the Sudanese leather development support activities as a member states in particular. The Team held a discussion with Ethiopian Ministry of Trade to get information about the COMESA Free Trade Area activities and WTO accession stage of Ethiopian and shared the status of Sudan at this particular time. The future plan in penetrating and create networking of the market in the region was in a discussion agenda. To get experience about Cluster development especially in leather sector in Ethiopia, the Team visited the Ethio-International Footwear Cluster Cooperative Society (EIFCCOS) and had a fruitful discussion and visit the premises in creating networking among Sudanese leather manufacturing industries. The team also visited one of Ethiopian shoe producers that exports to different parts of the world and got information about the status and experience of Ethiopia in manufacturing and export of footwear.
In general, the team got information about the policies of the Government of Ethiopian towards leather sector development and the COMESA Free Trade Area (FTA) activities. The visit to different actors in the manufacturing of leather gave them information about the status of leather sector development in Ethiopia. At last, the Team was hosted by Executive Director of African leather and leather product Institute Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija for the observation and windup meeting and got the way forward message for the sustainable activities in the future.