THE MINISTER for Foreign Affairs has said that Irish companies can no longer continue to ignore business opportunities in Africa, as he signalled the development of a specific trade and commercial strategy for the continent.
After a meeting with Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi at the end of a two-day state visit to Ethiopia, Micheál Martin said in Addis Ababa yesterday that the establishment of a strategy to develop trade links between Ireland and the continent would benefit Irish businesses and Africans alike.
“There are clearly business opportunities here,” he said, pointing to the success of companies such as Wexford based Medentech, which sells more than 40 per cent of its water purification tablets in Africa. “But if you take our trade policies generally, we look to the first world. We really haven’t had a focus on Africa and that has to change.”
The Ethiopian economy could grow by as much as 7 per cent this year according to some estimates. Irish businesses such as M-Birr, an Ethiopian mobile payment service being developed by Dublin company NCL Technologies, are looking at ways to tap into that growth.
However, despite the progress that had been made since the Ethiopian government came to power in 1995, Mr Martin acknowledged that there were still concerns about the level of democracy following the May general election.
“We’re not happy that the opposition have almost no seats in the parliament and we’re very concerned about the need to have a very strong civil society.”
According to Hailu Araaya, leader of the UDJ opposition party, anyone opposed to the government is prevented from holding political rallies or even renting meeting halls.
“We are living under a culture of fear,” Mr Araaya said. “Mark Twain said that everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. It is the same with democracy in Ethiopia. The international community is not exerting enough pressure.”
Earlier on Friday, Mr Martin visited the village of Burfeta outside Addis Ababa, where he saw the work of Ethiopia’s health extension programme in improving the health of ordinary Ethiopians.
One of the major pillars of the country’s health service, the programme provides for two health workers in every village to promote hygiene and environmental sanitation, family health and disease prevention and control with local families.
In the last five years, Ireland has contributed more than €15 million to the Ethiopian health service. This year, it will disburse a further €2.3 million for the health sector.