Search Results for: Ethiopia

Ethiopia government and analysists are both pessimistic that the US government will soon reinstate the Horn of Africa country into the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). America suspended Ethiopia from the free trade act in late December 2021, because of the ongoing civil war with the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).…

Implementing international sanctions is never easy, but the sanctions regime on Iran is highly complex, buffeted by shifting diplomatic stances. With its Security Council ally Russia relying on Iranian military and technology supplies for it to pursue its invasion of Ukraine, time-limited UN restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme officially lapsed on October 18.…

The Great Lakes region in cenztral and eastern Africa is exceedingly resource rich, and being beset by instability and conflict, it is highly attractive for illicit trade and financial crime fuelling money laundering. A new European Union (EU) Great Lakes Strategy is trying to promote the rule of law in the region – notably Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – but faces major challenges.…

Ethiopia’s Amhara region is engulfed in widespread conflict and with a state of emergency declared by the federal government on August 4 continuing, putting the status of thousands of students is in jeopardy as the unending strife threatens to disrupt the upcoming academic year.…

THE EUROPEAN and global fashion and textile industry is witnessing rapid technological advancements, requiring garment workers with specialised skillsets, notably digital, to meet evolving demands. Indeed, the November 2022 State of Fashion 2023 report (1) from strategy consultants McKinsey & Co made clear that after 18 months of robust growth (early 2021 until mid-2022) post Covid-19, the fashion industry is facing challenges, including inflation, the energy crisis and rising material prices, that increases its demand for skilled labour.…

Political instability in the west African republic of Burkina Faso has been disrupting long-standing government plans to leverage the country’s cotton production to generate growth in its clothing and textile spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing and finishing segments.

The country’s cotton production is significant, with the US agriculture department predicting in September that production for the August 2022-July 2023 marketing year would be 1.15 million 480-pound bales.…

International solar energy providers are finding business opportunities in Africa as national governments and their development agency partners try to foster growth while targeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG), which encourages access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030 (1).…

The manufacture of technical textiles is in its nascency across North Africa, even more so in sub-Saharan Africa, with the continent having long been considered a low-cost, cut-and-sew destination rather than a production hub for value-added items. But due to the trend by European and US brands for near-shoring and diversification away from east Asian production, and the ambitions of certain African countries to develop a full manufacturing chain, the potential for making technical textiles in Africa is gradually emerging.…

The textile and fibre sectors of Ethiopia have been looking to expand domestic sakes as Ethiopia approaches one year anniversary of its exclusion of the USA’s Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This process continues even as a new peace deal between the government and rebel Tigray forces is being rolled out, growing hope that Ethiopia may be readmitted to AGOA and its preferential US market access in 2023.…

An African garment and textile sector rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic has seen strong export growth in the first three-quarters of 2022 start to sputter through a tightening of retail demand in Europe and the United States. These remain Africa’s two primary export markets and their consumers are reducing spending as inflation and recession concerns grow.…