The Ministry of Industry, together with its partners, has officially inaugurated a duty-free leather and leather products store at Bole International Airport.
The main purpose of opening the shop is to promote export if Ethiopian products and increase the trade of the sector.
According to the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), Ethiopian Airlines has allocated about 200 meters square area at Bole International Airport terminal for the duty free shop while Japan International Corporation (JICA) has been providing financial and technical support for the realization of the duty free shop. JICA’s Export Promotion Project Chief Consultant Norik Nagai explained that his company is providing the necessary support to promote Ethiopian leather and leather products, especially the brand known as Highland Leather, to the world market.
Industry Minister Ato Melaku Alebel, on his part, reportedly said that Although the project is in the beginning, 200 thousand US dollars have been received from the sales center in the last two months and encouraging results are being seen. According to the Financial Ethiopia, Ato Melaku stated that in the 2014 budget, 40.6 million US dollars were obtained from the trade of leather and leather products.
