UNIDO launched the Global Market Access Programme country project in Ethiopia

UNIDO launched the Global Market Access Programme (GMAP) country project in Addis Ababa together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration of Ethiopian and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in the country.

The launch event saw sixty representatives from Ethiopia and international communities. UNIDO initiated the implementation of a €1.8 million project funded by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) which aims to support the efforts by various public and private stakeholders in Ethiopia to strengthen quality compliance capacity and improve market access in the honey and beeswax value chain.

“The project is built on efforts by multiple partners at national and international levels, with the aim to scale up for long-term benefits,” said Ms. Aurelia Patrizia Calabrò, UNIDO Representative and Director of UNIDO Regional Office Hub in Ethiopia in her welcoming remarks. “While complementing to endeavors in improving productivity, the GMAP Ethiopia project is focusing on quality through strengthening SMEs capacity to comply with trade standards and market requirements.”

Launching the Value Chain Study Report, Ms. Calabrò appreciated the support given by the Norwegian Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration and all other stakeholders. She said the support is key to accelerate successful implementation of the project.

“Ethiopia is one of the focused countries for the implementation of this strategy in development cooperation, and Norway is committed to partnering with Ethiopia on this journey to strengthen the quality compliance capacity of the honey value chain for a greater market access,” said Mr. Stian Christensen, Ambassador of Norway to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative of Norway to the African Union.

The Ambassador recalled the Great Transformation Norway had experienced during the past century and explained the Norwegian strategy for supporting food security in Africa through addressing the root causes of food insecurity and building the capacity of partner countries to respond to natural and social barriers.

Expressing his appreciation for the Value Chain Study Report produced by UNIDO, State Minister of Agriculture Dr. Fikru Regassa said, “This project aims to address the identified gaps in the sector that prevent Ethiopia from realizing its potential of honey exportation while also supporting in meeting the international market requirements, particularly those in the European market.”

“Let our partners work together as the bee to solve the sector’s problems and come up with good results,” said the State Minister.

The county project in Ethiopia known as “Strengthening the quality compliance capacity of the honey value chain for greater market access” is part of the GMAP Programme, a programmatic framework developed by UNIDO and NORAD in order to support market access for developing countries for selected value chains through addressing quality-related and other barriers at the macro, meso and micro levels.

The project aims to enhance the quality compliance capacity of honey and beeswax value chain actors from the bottom and strengthen the service capacity of National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) system in Ethiopia for providing internationally recognized services. In addition, the project will support in promoting the culture of quality along with the value chain which is vital for creating a virtuous cycle of more investment, more production, more exports, and finally more jobs.

The project will be implemented in close collaboration with various partners, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, NQI institutions, the Holeta Bee Research Center, the newly established Ethiopian Apiculture Development Association (EADA) and Oromia Bureau of Agriculture.