April 17, 2025
The Ethio-Greece Business and Investment Forum was held in Athens, Greece, on Monday (April 7). The event brought together key stakeholders from the Hellenic Republic Chamber of Commerce, members of the Ethiopian and Greek business communities, and representatives from both public and private organizations. More than 70 participants attended, including higher Ethiopian officials, representatives from the Ethiopian Embassy in Rome and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both nations, and business community members from Ethiopia and Greece.
In his opening remarks, Assefa Abiyu, Deputy Head of Mission at the FDRE Embassy in Rome, highlighted Ethiopia’s wide range of trade and investment opportunities. He stressed the improved investment climate and encouraged Greek private companies to invest in Ethiopia and to purchase Ethiopian commodities. In line with this, Workaferahu Aklilu, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, emphasized the favorable conditions created by Ethiopia’s homegrown macroeconomic reform for foreign investors. She also underscored the potential for strengthening trade and investment ties between Ethiopia and Greece.
Dagato Kumbe, Deputy Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission, delivered a presentation at the forum that highlighted diverse investment opportunities, particularly in priority sectors such as agriculture and agro-processing, construction, manufacturing, transport and logistics, energy, mining, ICT, and tourism. He also outlined the legal framework, procedures, and incentives designed by the Ethiopian government to facilitate and encourage foreign direct investment.
Ethiopia’s Honorary Consul in Greece, Georgois Bikas, in his remarks, stated that the forum presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen existing economic cooperation between the two countries and to foster networking between the Ethiopian and Greek business communities.
In this connection, the representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, Nikolao Christodoulidis, also highlighted Ethiopia’s recent economic growth, which creates vast opportunities for Greek businesses to invest, particularly in agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, innovation, technology, and manufacturing, in alignment with Greece’s priority areas. He also noted that interested Greek companies can utilize project financing through the EU pilot project under the Africa-EU Transformation Package, as well as bilateral cooperation mechanisms between the two nations.
The President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ioannis Bratokos, and the President of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investment, Charis Labropoulos, both elaborated in their keynote speeches that the priority areas for investment and incentives provided by the Ethiopian side are more complementary to Greece’s investment sector, which creates vast opportunities to attract foreign direct investment for both sides.
The event was concluded with productive B2B discussions and preliminary agreements between Ethiopian and Greek companies, further promoting Ethiopia’s trade and investment potential.