Addis Ababa — Ethiopia's Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) has announced that the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone has entered in to full operation with its full capacity.
Investors who are in the process of obtaining an investment license from the Ethiopian Investment Commission to start work in the Free Trade Zone visited the services provided by the Free Trade Zone.
On the occasion, CEO of IPDC Fisseha Yitagesu announced that the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone has entered in to full operation with its full capacity.
Stakeholders have been working diligently over the past three months to bring the Free Trade Zone to full capacity, he added.
The Ethiopian Investment Commission has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting investors and facilitating their entry into the zone, as evidenced by today's visit, Fisseha said.
The National Free Trade Zone Implementation Committee, led by top government officials, has been overseeing the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone's operations and taking steps to ensure its continued success, he stated.
As the first of the Industrial Parks Development Corporation's parks to become a free trade zone, Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone is already seeing manufacturing companies marketing their products.
In most ports of entry across the world, Free Trade Zones are Special Economic Zones that are walled in, duty-free areas that provide warehousing, storage, and distribution facilities for trade, transshipment, and re-export activities.
The Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone initially included 150 hectares of land but has the potential to grow to 4,000 hectares.
The Eastern Desert Paradise Ethiopia's city of Dire Dawa, which has a population of more than 450,000 and a 1213 square kilometer area, is where the Free Trade Zone is situated.
The Free Trade Zone was established in order to reduce price inflation, generate income, increase economic activity and employment opportunities, attract foreign direct investment, boost global competitiveness and incorporation, drop illegal trafficking in drugs, weapons, and other items that could endanger national security, gain regional advantage, and become the industrial hub of Africa.
