The giant textile factory, established with an investment of over 100 million dollars, was inaugurated on Friday, April 30. Ministers and government officials attended the event in Alem Gena, which is around 20 kilometres west of Addis Ababa.

Pictured here are, from left to right, Yusuf Aydeniz, Chairman of AYKA textile; Prime Minister Meles Zenawi; and Girma Birru, Minister of Trade and Industry. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected, but failed to attend. The factory is expected to generate over 70 million dollars annually from exports.



AYKA ADDIS Integrated Textiles was officially inaugurated on Friday April 30 by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The 100 million dollar investment from Turkey, which is to use state of the art technology in its manufacturing, set up its factory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

During the inaugural ceremony that attracted various ministers and senior government officials, Girma Birru, Minister of Trade and Industry, said that the beginning of production by the factory will play a major role in strengthening the country's textile manufacturing value chain.
The factory in Alem Gena is expected to manufacture 70 million dollars worth of goods per annum.

The site is said to be the biggest integrated textile factory in sub-Saharan Africa. The spinning and knitting factories are already active and a dyeing factory also started operation in December 2009.

When the factory operates at full capacity it is expected to employ more than 10,000 workers.

AYKA Textile Industry and Trade Incorporated started moving its garment production units to Ethiopia after lucrative offers of cheaper labour and incentives from the government.

Girma stressed that the factory will have full support from the government during production.

The factory was built after the Ethiopian Government allocated an area of 15,000 square metres for the company.

AYKA also has plans to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to obtain duty free access to the US.
Girma said the factory will assist the country in meeting its annual textile export goals directly and indirectly.

Source: Capital