UNIDO and AfDB to foster Ethiopia’s agricultural modernization and rural industrialization

UNIDO and the African Development Bank renew their support to the Government of Ethiopia to foster the agricultural modernization and rural industrialization of the country by supporting the development of four pilot Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks (IAIPs), Rural Transformation Centres (RTC) and Regional Industrial Parks Development Corporations (RIPDCs).

“UNIDO will continue to support the Government in developing an inclusive and sustainable agro-industrialization”, said UNIDO Regional Director Aurelia Calabro’. “The creation of strong value chains is a key success factor for the implementation of the IAIP-SP initiative”.

The signing of the agreement is the result of a long-term collaboration between the Ministry of Trade and Industry and UNIDO under the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) for Ethiopia. In fact, the development of IAIPs is one of the key PCP components and a priority in Ethiopia’s national development strategy.

The IAIP-SP is focused on enabling infrastructure for agro-industrial development and capacity building for sustainable agro-industrialization, with a project coordination and management component. As such, the project contributes to the broader ‘Promotion of Sustainable Ethiopian Agro-industrial Development’ (PROSEAD) initiative, which resulted from common efforts of the Government of Ethiopia, the European Union (EU), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Agence Française du Développement (AFD), the African Development Fund (ADF), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Italian Agency for International Cooperation, and UNIDO.

Original source: UNIDO
Published on 14 October 2019