SHENZHEN, China’s tech hub city, has consolidated economic partnership with Ethiopia by opening its Shenzhen Outbound Alliance (SOA) Africa branch office in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

SOA is a nongovernmental organization formed to help Shenzhen companies to engage in outbound investment and cooperation.

Speaking at the SOA office inaugural event, Sun Tianlu, vice chairman and secretary of the alliance, said with the city’s total economic output expected to hit 2 trillion yuan (US$302 billion) in 2017, owing largely to high-tech products and services, it was natural that Shenzhen wanted to impart its successes to overseas destinations.

Shenzhen is home to internationally known high-tech companies including Huawei, ZTE and Shenzhen Energy Group. The presence of a large number of high-tech companies headquartered in the city has given it the nickname “Silicon Valley” of China.

Berhane Keleta, director general of Ethio-ICT (information communications technology) industrial park, said Ethiopia has already been a beneficiary of IT services from companies like Huawei and ZTE, and invites more Shenzhen-based firms to create alliances with local investors to create ICT partnerships.

The Ethiopian Government is building an ICT park in Addis Ababa at a cost of US$250 million aimed at boosting IT services to make the country a premier IT hub in Africa.

Sehul Tirusew, investment attraction adviser at the Ethiopia Investment Commission (EIC), said it’s critical to have business partnerships with foreign partners and the EIC is committed to ensuring that Chinese investments are successful and thriving in Ethiopia.

“We will do all we can to make sure that we assist,” said Tirusew.

Tirusew said Ethiopia has a demographic advantage for companies who want to hire a large labor force, adding Ethiopia, with a population of some 100 million, has 54 million citizens considered to be an active workforce.

As Ethiopia, the most populous nation in East Africa, is spreading its economic relations across the globe, investment from the world’s most populous nation, China, is playing a prominent role.

According to the EIC, 279 Chinese companies with more than US$571 million worth of Chinese investment have created more than 28,300 jobs in Ethiopia between January 2012 and January 2017.

With China-Ethiopia trade reaching US$6.15 billion in 2015, growing 22.2 percent annually in the last several years, China has become Ethiopia’s largest trading partner.(Xinhua)