Sri Lanka is keen to expand bilateral trade and investment cooperation with Ethiopia, Ambassador K.K Theshantha Kumarasiri said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the ambassador said there are many Sri Lankan business entrepreneurs interested in investing and doing trade with Ethiopia.

Ambassador Kumarasiri stated that Sri Lanka has recently proposed for the first time to sign a MoU with the Addis Chamber and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

‘It is a business interaction that we are going to sign by which we expect to establish a kind of institutional framework where entrepreneurs could utilize that potential so that we expand the trade,’ he explained.

According to him, there are potentials of enhancing trade interaction.

Moreover, the ambassador revealed that there is another MoU, particularly with the construction industry, adding bilateral trade and inter construction industry are also moving forward in a positive direction.

He pointed out that President Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka and Prime Minis
ter Abiy Ahmed had bilateral meeting in Kampala during the Non-Alignment Summit where they discussed the potential for future cooperation, particularly on the green economy, low economic initiatives, climate change action and also initiatives like agriculture, energy and potential areas of cooperation.

‘We are very much interested in expanding our relations,’ the ambassador said, disclosing that President Wickremesinghe has introduced a new initiative called Look Africa in February last year with the participation of ambassadors of foreign countries accredited to Sri Lanka.

The president initiated this foreign policy initiative to engage more with African countries, particularly in areas of agriculture, energy, green economy and also financial institutions as we always depend on external sources of financing for industries.

Under the South-South cooperation, his government is also promoting cooperation with the South countries particularly on addressing common issues related to climate, education and gove
rnance.

With regard to investment in Ethiopia, the ambassador said there are 4 major Sri Lankan apparel manufacturing industries with the capital of over 15 million USD.

Ambassador Kumarasiri noted that the main attraction was of course AGOA. But without that duty free access now they were struggling to finding out new market access to Europe, UK, France and Germany.

‘Through the support of the Government of Ethiopia and other supportive measures by the Ethiopian institutions, however, all the companies expanded again their manufacturing capacity.’

There are also several Sri Lankans, almost 200 Sri Lankan expertise in Ethiopia in the apparel manufacturing industry, working in other companies, not only the Sri Lankan own company, but of course, companies belongs to India, Chinese and South Korean companies.

They are contributing to the economy and also enhance the capacity of young people employed in those industries, the ambassador elaborated.

Furthermore, ‘the Government of Sri Lanka has invited Ethiop
ian Airlines to commence a direct flight to Colombo, through which we expect actually to enhance our trade interaction and also investment and also tourism sector because Sri Lanka has almost 200 years of history of tourism industry and well established hospitality industries.’

We are again thinking of collaborating in the hospitality industry and have proposed to Ministry of Tourism here to sign a MoU with its Sri Lankan counterpart, the ambassador revealed.

In addition, several companies have approached us to build a kind of connection between Ethiopia and Sri Lanka in the energy sector and nature-based cosmetic industry.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Zoomlion Foundation, in collaboration with the Accra College of Education, has launched an initiative dubbed ‘Agenda Zero Waste’ as part of efforts to get everyone on board in tackling sanitation challenges in the country.

The initiative is aimed at involving teacher trainees to be champions of environmental education across the country.

Launching the initiative, Mr Robert Kwaku Adjei, the Writers’ Bureau Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, speaking on behalf of the Managing Director of Zoomlion, Madam Gloria Anti, emphasised that the company through the initiative was nurturing a community of passionate individuals who will be actors in the sanitation space in the near future.

He said the initiative also signified a momentous move to address waste management and climate change in the country.

The event, which was on the theme: ‘Achieving Zero Waste: The Role of The Teacher Trainee in Combating Climate Change’, was also used to unveil the Green Generation Champions, an environmental club for tertiary insti
tutions.

The Principal of Accra College of Education, Prof Samuel A. Atintono, said the sustainable management of waste was a critical component of global efforts to mitigate climate change, preserve and present the planet for future generations.

‘The time is up for all, especially our young teacher trainees, to rise up to work towards achieving zero waste in order to recover the negative impact of climate change,’ he said.

According to him, the onus is on all citizens to improve consumption patterns and adopt sustainable waste management practices that protected the environment through recycling of waste.

The National Coordinator of Zoomlion Foundation, Mr Thomas Narh Korley, said Zoomlion had committed resources to the mobilisation of the youth and children to change the sanitation narrative in the country.

He explained that even though Zoomlion’s public education programmes had achieved remarkable results, they still needed to educate citizens on reducing, re-using and recycling of waste instead of du
mping it on landfills, which resulted in environmental and health hazards.

‘We are therefore drumming home that waste is a resource and we need everyone to appreciate that fact and lean towards benefiting from it,’ he stressed.

He said the Foundation agreed to work with the Accra College of Education because the teacher trainees were key stakeholders in involving children and the youth to impact the knowledge of transforming waste into resource.

‘So when they become professional teachers they would not find it difficult at all to teach children and the youth to transform waste into resources,’ he emphasised.

He said Agenda Zero Waste would be replicated in all tertiary institutions, particularly teacher training colleges in the country.

The President of the Student Representative Council (SRC), Mr Richmond Adjei, explaining the rationale behind the programme, said there was so much filth on campus and to address it they decided to collaborate with Zoomlion to bring a lasting solution to the challenge.

‘
The collaboration birthed Agenda Zero Waste and the establishment of Generation Champions GGC,’ he added.

‘Zoomlion has done a great job for us by offering us a lot of support including the provision of waste bins to promote waste management on campus,’ he noted.

Mr Adjei further added that the SRC would not rest there, but lobby for more support to push forward the agenda.

He encouraged other tertiary institutions to adopt the initiative and institute programmes that would prompt students to promote good sanitation.

Zoomlion is providing training for the Green Generation Champions and resources for the implementation of Agenda Zero Waste Project.

Source: Ghana News Agency