ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese textile manufacturing giant, Wuxi No. 1 Cotton Textile PLC, has inaugurated its Ethiopia branch, with an ambition to export much of its products to the international market.
Constructed at a cost of 220 million U.S. dollars, Wuxi No. 1 Cotton Ethiopia Textile Plc. was officially inaugurated on Friday in Ethiopia's eastern Dire Dawa city.
The Chinese firm said it plans to export close to 100 percent of its products to the international market, mainly Europe, North America and Asia, as well as other markets.
Zhang Shengming, Wuxi No. 1 Cotton Ethiopia Textile Plc. General Manager, told Xinhua that the Dire Dawa textile plant, erected on 51 hectares of land, has a capacity to process 300,000 spindles, in which the first phase of the project has been already completed with a capacity to process 100,000 spindles.
The plant, which is said to be the largest textile workshop to be constructed in the East African country, is expected to create about 3,500 job opportunities once the second phase of project is completed.
Located on the outskirts of Dire Dawa city - a major crossing point of the Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway, the textile firm also expects to tap into the 752 km Africa's first transnational electrified railway in its export ambition.
