(May 26, 2011, Addis Ababa)- Seeking to give fresh impetus to its relations with Ethiopia, India has entered into two Memoranda of Understanding to avoid double taxation and promote development of small industries.
The agreements were signed after the completion of bilateral talks between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his Ethiopian Counter part in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
An MOU to avoid double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income was signed by External affairs minister Mr S.M.Krishna and Ethiopian minister for finance and Economic development Mr Sufian Ahmed.
The other agreement entered between the two countries relates to the development of small industries in Ethiopia.
Earlier addressing a joint press conference with his Indian counter part Prime Minister MelesZenawi said Indian investment in Ethiopia has shot up to over $4.5 billion in just four years.
He however said he is anticipates a lot more Indian investments coming into Ethiopia.
“We want to see more Indian companies in every field, from textiles and food processing to IT and agriculture.”
He said he hopes to see the current figure touch $10 billion by 2015.
Bilateral trade between Ethiopia and India currently stands at $660 million. Meles is confident that the trade relation would increase from where it currently stands.
“Our bilateral trade is $660 million, which is peanuts compared to our overall trade. I am less concerned about the contents of the peanuts than about the fact that these are peanuts,” he said. “It is the capacity to trade that we lack and this is what India is helping Ethiopia to develop through its investments”.
India provided lines of credit of some 700 million dollars to Ethiopia over the past five years.The country has now pledged to provide another 300 million dollars in credit for the Ethio-Djibouti Railway project.
It has also decided to set up a technical and vocational training institute in Ethiopia.Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh for his part commended the overall economic development of Ethiopia as ‘exemplary’ for the rest of Africa.He invited Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to visit India.
Source: erta, gov news.
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