Sudanese businesses take part in Ethiopian exhibition in Tigrai State
Tigrai Online
April. 12 2011
A number of Sudanese firms and businessmen took part in a mobile exhibition and bazaar in Ethiopia’sTigray region. The bazaar is part of the wide platform of strengthening bilateral ties between Sudan and Ethiopia.
Mustofa El-Sayed is head of eastern Sudan’s Gedaref state chamber of commerce mission to Tigray. He says the bazaar was fruitful.
‘‘The philosophy of the Bazzar was achieved”, he told Sudan Tribune on Sunday, adding ‘‘the two neighbours are doing very well.”
However, he complained about the high customs charges in Ethiopia.
“The main objectives of such bazaars is to provide the poor community with a relatively low price; however this latest bazaar didn’t achieve this target due to high charges at the customs office, which forced us to sell our products at a higher price” El-Sayed said.
“When we think about scaling-up bilateral ties to a higher level, profit is not paramount” he said adding “authorities from the two sides need to revise their approach to this issue.’’
The latest exhibition and bazaar comes few weeks after the Tigray region chamber of commerce invited businessmen from Sudan’s Gedaref and Kassala states to participate.
Ali Ahmed Osman, Kassala state chamber of commerce chair person echoed on the Bazzars role in connecting peoples of the two countries via trade.
He said “A bazaar is a good means of consolidating bilateral links between adjacent regions of Sudan and Ethiopia”, adding, “the bazaar is playing an important role in forging trade ties beyond creating market opportunities’’.
Osman said business communities on both sides of the border have held discussions on ways they can cooperate on trade and investment.
Organisers said that the month-long exhibition and bazaar has attracted tens of thousands of people from different towns in the Tigray region.