Ethiopia has opened on 24 March the first Ethiopian Transport Investment Summit. The country explains its recent strategy for the partial liberalisation of the transport and logistics sector, its opening up to foreign investments, and launches a 10-years prospective plan for the transformation of the transport system in Ethiopia, a strategic plan to make the Ethiopian logistics system more efficient and aimed at integrating the different modes of transport in the country.
In September 2018 the Ethiopian investment board announced the opening of the logistics industry to foreign investments. On September 2020, the Ethiopian Council of Ministers enacted the new investment regulation (n. 474/2020) that allows foreign companies to invest in the freight forwarding and shipping agency sector (an industry that was previously reserved to Ethiopian nationals). Foreign entities are now allowed to create forwarding and shipping companies in the country, but only in joint venture with an Ethiopian investor that will hold at least 51% of the share capital of the enterprise (art. 5).
Other sectors opened to foreign investments include domestic air transport and trans-regional land passenger transport with vehicles with seating capacity of more than 45 seats.
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