ECA Supporting Ethiopia to Diversify its Rich Tourism Sector

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) stated that it is cooperating with Ethiopia in many ways and especially supporting the country to diversify its rich tourism sector.

ECA East Africa Director, Mama Keta told ENA that ECA is cooperating with Ethiopia in many ways and especially it is supporting the country to develop and diversify its rich tourism sector.

This continued support for Ethiopia in tourism development and diversification is part of ECA’s cooperation and supports to the country in many ways.

According to her, the second most populous country in Africa, with a big economy, immense potential in many sectors, and especially tourism for her office is critical point of cooperation and support to facilitating trade and regional economic integration.

“ECA works very well with Ethiopia. Ethiopia is key for AFCFTA and for Africa as a whole. The size of the economy is big and in terms of population also it is very big. It has also some great skills. So, ECA supports Ethiopia in so many things,” Mama Keta said.

The director pointed out that her office is particularly working with the Government of Ethiopia to unlock and diversify the enormous tourism potential of Ethiopia.

“From my office, for instance, we supported the country, and we are still supporting the country to diversify its tourism sector,” she pointed out.

Mama Keta noted that developing and diversifying the tourism sector in Ethiopia is critical and extremely important.

“For a country that is not very rich in natural resources and that is rich in historical sites and heritage, tourism is a critical and extremely important sector. So we are, for instance, supporting Ethiopia right now, to develop further the tourism sector to improve the statistics in order to be able to plan well, and to measure the results that are being done. So this is just one example where ECA is supporting Ethiopia but in many other sectors really collaboration is going on.”

Ethiopia is bestowed with massive tangible and intangible heritages and its natural and artificial tourism destinations have been expanding and diversifying, increasing earnings.

ECA has been assisting Ethiopia’s trade policy agenda, aimed at fostering industrialization and sustained economic growth and regional integration, it was learned.

She further stressed the need to remove non-tariff barriers and harmonize policies that allow free movement of people and goods to enhance economic activities, especially trade, particularly in East Africa and the continent.

Removing the barriers of trade will facilitate regional economic integration, create jobs and offer favorable markets in Africa, she added.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency