The 21st Addis Chamber International Trade Fair Closes

The 21st edition of Addis Chamber International Trade Fair has its closing ceremony in a symposium organized on the theme “overcoming trade logistics barriers for enhanced export performance”.  The ceremony included a ‘best stand award’ program, which is in recognition of exhibitors with the best performance of the trade fair days of this edition. The event took place at Hilton Addis, on February 28, 2017.

The presentation showed limitations in the Ethiopian logistics system and came up with figures to corroborate the claim. It said that logistics performance index puts Ethiopia 126th out of 160 countries. In customs, infrastructure, international shipment, logistics quality & competence, tracking & trading, and timeliness Ethiopia exhibited poor performance in that it registered below mid-point of the indicator or there about.

Poor performance in trade finance and trade system is behind the poor logistics performance of Ethiopia, the presenter said. Poor coordination, inadequate infrastructure and poor facility management, are other indicators of Ethiopia’s performance. Trade competiveness is influenced by transit time and logistics cost, he said.

High Djibouti port charge, the long dwell time /22 days/, and high inland transport are major factors indicated doing harm to the logistics system. Transaction cost, which takes a big share of the overall cost, is high.

Following the presentation, many ideas were forwarded by participants of the discussion. Best stand award ceremony of the trade fair was the final part of the program.