ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Thursday hailed the recently introduced Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) to have a pivotal role in availing global market opportunities and linkages for Ethiopian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
The statement was made by the Ethiopian State Minister of Trade and Industry, Mesganu Arga Moach, who emphasized the crucial role of the eWTP, which came after the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, and the East African country on Nov. 25 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the creation of eWTP.
According to Moach, the eWTP platform, which was believed to be a game-changer initiative with the digital economy of the East African country, will enable Ethiopian small and medium-sized enterprises to have improved market opportunities in the global arena,
"The platform will be pivotal in availing market opportunities and linkages for SMEs with business across the globe," Moach told a high-level meeting of the Committee on Private Sector, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology (CPRTIIT), comprising senior officials and experts from African Union (AU) member states, that was concluded on Thursday in Addis Ababa.
The state minister, who described Ethiopia's latest electronic world trade platform as the second in Africa after Rwanda, "will enable Ethiopia to provide smart logistics and services, conduct cross-border trades with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises."
The eWTP was proposed by Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, in 2016. It aims to set up an open platform for private enterprises and coordination among international organizations, governments, and social groups which focus on the development of SMEs as well as trade. It was included in the communique of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou.
The documents of the MoU that was signed by Ethiopia and the Alibaba Group, among other things, include eWTP framework, digital capacity building, and building a comprehensive digital hub.
