Embracing a new trade model

A slew of modern industrial parks developed by Chinese businesses are helping to forge a new template for economic growth and job creation in the east African country

On the southern outskirts of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, the Oriental Industrial Park covers an area of 5 square kilometers. At present, 85 enterprises have set up business there and include companies involved in textiles, clothing, shoes, steel, cement, pharmaceutical production, as well as automobile assembly. Most of the companies hail from China.

A digital screen outside the industrial park carries a message that reads "China-Africa friendship, cooperation and win-win" in Chinese. In the recruitment area next to the screen, local job seekers gather year-round to find new positions. Jiao Yongshun, deputy director of the industrial park's management committee, says that since winning the bid for the Overseas Trade and Economic Cooperation Zone of the Ministry of Commerce of China in 2007, the enterprises in the industrial park have provided more than 10,000 jobs to the local employment market.