EUBFE took part in an annual summit of global European Chambers of commerce hosted by the European Commission’s Directorate for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG-GROW). The three days summit brought together more than 30 Eurochambers from around the globe with EUBFE among the three active Eurochambers in Africa to attend.

Two days of the summit were dedicated to discussions with representatives of the various European Commission’s directorates and representatives of the EU parliamentarians regarding improved collaboration between EU chambers and EU trade negotiations, future plan of the commission and potential for collaboration and other pertinent developments that are relevant to EU businesses operating outside the EU economic zone.

The concluding date saw general assembly meeting of European Business Organizations Worldwide network (EBOWWN), to which is a full member since 2017. The EBO Worldwide Network stands as the sole organization representing European business interests in markets outside the European Union. It represents a network active in over 35 key markets that serves European multinationals, as well as micro, small, medium and large enterprises. European chambers of commerce and European business associations within the EBO Worldwide Network work on a daily basis with European Union delegations across the globe in the shared interest of supporting European companies.

On April 13, 2018 EUBFE members held their first annual meeting which was followed by thematic networking.

The event saw an annual activity and financial report of 2017 and plans for 2018 by the executive director, Mr. Nahom F. Abraham. External audit report was part of the report by the executive director. The general assembly ratified both planning for 2018 and audit report.

Following the general assembly meeting, a presentation on the findings of the EU business mapping study conducted in collaboration between EU delegation and EUBFE was made by Mr. Carl Daspect, economic attaché at the EUD-Ethiopia.

In his presentation Mr. Carl indicated that the goal of this joint study is to periodically measure the level of EU investments in Ethiopia so that the joint work of EUD and EUBFE in the dialogue with Ethiopian authorities can be facilitated and more targeted. In addition to the EU business mapping study, two sectoral analyses (pharmaceutical and logistics) were developed and made available to EUBFE members.

Despite significant challenges in availability and reliability of data as well as disparities in definitions and standards of FDI, the draft report was able to depict a picture of EU investment size, employment trends, nature of ownership and geographical coverage. To this end, the report found that the EU block investment stands third in terms of FDI stock position, behind Chinese and Turkish investment, with an FDI stock of approximately 310 mln USD. 70% of EU investments are in the manufacturing sector, a priority sector of the Ethiopian government, creating more than twenty thousand permanent and close to thirty thousand temporary job opportunity. About 60% of EU investments are in Addis Ababa with the Oromia region accounting for about 27%. Unlike other FDI, EU investments were found to account to about 50% joint investment form, indicating willingness and interest of EU companies to collaborate with local ones. Following comments and suggestions by participants, Mr. Daspect reiterated that the final draft shall incorporate the suggestions made during the event with the refined report made available soon.

A joint workshop organized in collaboration with the Ethiopian Customs Commission was held on April 15, 2021 The basis of this workshop is the list of specific issues that were submitted by the EU Business Forum to the commission, following a mini survey disseminated amongst members. Some 40 logistics managers and staff members from EUBFE member companies took part. From the Customs Commission’s side, a number of directors including Mrs. Abeba Kiros- Director, Strategic Partnership Directorate, Ato Endashaw Temesgen -Director, Import goods procedure and support directorate as well as Mrs. Gennet Abreham - Director, Manufacturer and Export Trade Procedure and Support took the podium to lead the Q&A session.

The objectives of the workshop were
• to present the key systems that are instituted that would enable swift release of goods, within the 10/15 days deadline
• to discuss on the issues and challenges submitted by member companies, including but not limited to o repetitive inspections, rejection of transaction values, LC extension related challenges, duty free imports privilege rejection, lack of clarity on investment on logistics sector, missing HS codes on single window and consolidation of goods

Based on the queries raised by participants, the panelists as well as the other invited guests from ECC provided detailed explanation upon the return of participants from health break. The explanations were made by the panelists as well as Ato Habtamu Tilahun from Legal Directorate, Mr. Behailu Bedasso (lead valuation expert) from Valuation Directorate, Ato Sebsbie Fekade from ESW (team coordinator), Mr. Zewdu Tsehay from transit and warehouse directorate (lead expert) and Ato G/Egziabher G/Tsadik (deputy manager) from Kality Customs branch.

A summary of the responses is as below.

• Price valuation is tolerated if it falls between 5-10% of ECVS. Regardless, the ECVS is being updated to reflect current prices and add new commodities; it is now at a pilot stage
• Companies need to supply complete documents to enable ECC assessors make informed decision. In this regard, for ECC to be convinced of transaction value, sales contract needs to be submitted on top of LC and commercial invoices.
• Price valuation remains a contentious area.
• The first 4-6 digits of HS code are usually the same globally and the remaining will differ according to country context. Transiters should have the ability to navigate this.
• The Ethiopian Single Window system (ESW) is currently serving the business community. Some 16 companies, mainly banks and insurance companies operate within this framework. Training is being provided to the business community on ESW on a continuous bases and based on needs experts will be happy to extend one to EUBFE members.
• In situations where system failure happens in partner organizations, like Ministry of Agriculture, the ESW secretariat will be happy to intervene to support business in clearing their commodities on time.
• The 10/15 days deadline kicks in on the day T-1 is validated. This means the day the shipment arrives in its designated warehouse, be it in Modjo, airport or even ECC certified duty-free warehouses.
• Pre arrival clearance is indeed actively applied although some transiters do not seem to use this opportunity. However, it is one area that is targeted for improvement since it lacks harmonization across branches and does not meet international standard.
• ECC is committed to developing the capacity of its staff. It also takes note that some of the challenges are rooted in absence of the right skills. ECC is open to partner with stakeholders including the private sector to this end.
• The issue of expanding the privileges being an AEO to other government agencies has been tabled for consideration at the prime minister’s office. In this manner, law abiding companies will have significant benefits.