Ministry Discusses Import Substitution of Clothes, Shoes of NDF and Security Forces

A consultative meeting that focused on producing the clothes and shoes of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (NDF) and security forces locally with the view to realizing import substitution was held today.

Speaking on the occasion, Industry Minister Melaku Alebel said 545 million USD worth clothing is imported every year while the nation exports 114 million USD worth clothing.

To correct this huge trade imbalance, extensive works have been undertaken, he added.

Foreign exchange was, for instance, saved by producing over 1.5 million pairs of shoes at home, according to the minster.

In the past two years, over 718,000 pairs of quality shoes were also produced and provided for students in Addis Ababa by making industries work with full capacity.

He further noted that encouraging results have been gained from such efforts.

Melaku pointed out that various activities have been undertaken to strengthen manufacturing industries in the past years to particularly enable them substitute imports.

Source: Ethiopia News Agency