A Team Consists of the Ministers and Higher Officials from Sudan Visited Different leather development related institutions in Ethiopia and held a discussion from February 26 – 27, 2018. The purpose of the mission was to share best experiences from Ethiopia focusing on industrial policy implementation on leather value chain.
Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) was officially requested to facilitate and assist the visit to Ethiopia.
The Team visited and held discussions with Leather Industry development institute of Ethiopia (LIDI). The first day of the visit was allocated to get experiences regarding the leather development policy and support areas of the Government of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Industry Development Strategy in General. The Team was hosted by the Deputy Director General of LIDI and visited the facilities of LIDI in supporting the industry by giving training, research laboratory and technology support. The Institute is giving support to leather sector based on the demand and strategically planned activities.
To get information about the actors in the leather value chain, the Team visited one of the slaughter houses in Addis Ababa called Addis Ababa Slaughter house and held a discussion with the responsible person in the institution.
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 visited the premises in creating networking among Sudanese leather manufacturing industries clusters. Excellencies and higher officials also visited Ethiopian shoe and finished leather producers that exports to different parts of the world and provide to domestic market too to know the status and experience of Ethiopia in manufacturing and export.
The team also was hosted by Executive Director of ALLPI Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija for the observation and got information about African leather and Leather Product Institute activities in general and the Sudanese leather development support activities as a member states in particular. Advisor to the President of Development Bank of Ethiopia also gave explanation about the Bank’s support for the Development of Industries in Ethiopia in general and Leather sector in particular during the summary meeting.
In general, the team has got information about the policies of the Government of Ethiopian towards leather sector development and the status of the industries in production and export of leather. ALLPI’s vision towards creating Africa’s premier leather sector centre of excellence in the global arena was also communicated during the visit. The Excellencies and higher officials were impressed by the Government commitment to support the Leather industries in general. The visits to different actors in the manufacturing of Leather and leather value chain actors gave them information about the status of leather sector development in Ethiopia.
The mission was part of the ALLPI’s Share, Adapt and Adopt activity that is stipulated in its Strategic Plan.
