“ጠና ይስጥልን”…Greetings
The ability to transport goods quickly, economically and reliably is vital to all nation’s prosperity and capacity to compete in the global market.
Ethiopia is a landlocked country in East Africa with a land area of about 1.13 million square kilometers and a population of more than 90 million. 85 percent of the population is living in rural areas and the economy of the country is based mainly on agriculture accounting for 45 percent of GDP, 80 percent of exports and 80 percent of employment.
Today Ethiopia’s logistics industry faces many challenges, some of which are inbound and outbound transport management, warehousing, material handling, supply and demand planning, difficult import and export processes, and poor information technology infrastructure. Ethiopia uses the Port of Djibouti as a main gateway to sea for import and export of cargo. It is therefore imperative to have a seamless corridor management system to facilitate the movement of cargo and improve competitiveness of export products.
Logistics companies are at their infant stage of development and lacking sufficient support and accountability despite, the fact without effective logistics services, no development goals of a nation can be achieved.
Logistics system needs to be put in place to solve these socio-economic problems and the association of Ethiopian Freight Forwarders and Shipping Agents (EFFSA) continuously strives to develop the sector through training, accreditation and local and international networking, to enhance exposure and awareness. RAME 2016 will offer the perfect venue for participating delegates that will find plenty of opportunities for networking with interested local forwarders as clients to improve their working systems.
EFFSAA invites its member associations to this impactful conference to celebrate and network. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-the Capital City of Africa and gateway to southern, central and western African regions from the Middle East is where RAME 2016 will take place. This makes it the perfect potential area of presence for regional forwarders for study and cooperation.
Freight Forwarding began in Ethiopia in the early 20th century when the airline route as well as railway network to the port of Djibouti was opened. No specialized training centers were established until the late 20th century and EFFSAA has recently been validated by the FIATA/ABVT training program and is in the process of establishing training facilities for forwarding and transport accreditation
In keeping with the theme of the Conference in 2016 – “Breaking Barriers, Creating Possibilities” – we are very keen to generate an enthusiasm for networking amongst regional freight forwarders who, at the same time, can enjoy the friendly atmosphere of our city and country. To achieve this, we have joined hands with our local and international partners. This conference shall be a forum filled with interesting topics and discussions that shall present the challenges and opportunities of doing business in the region and in our country in particular. We expect, through the strong support and participation of the member associations, EFFSAA’s strive in further developing professional logistics services shall be supported to be achieved.
In 2015, our national carrier, Ethiopian, started a direct route flight to Dublin, where FIATA World Congress 2016 shall be hosted. It is indeed ironic and we believe, 2016 is the year of Ireland and Ethiopia and all partners from Ireland are indeed welcome to join us here in Ethiopia during the RAME 2016 conference.
We are confident that our combined efforts, allied with those of FIATA, will result in excellent networking opportunities for all attending delegates. Networking will serve as a core focus prior to and throughout the conference at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa conference Hall, from the exhibition to the tea and coffee breaks and from the gala dinner and visit at the brand new African Union Conference center to the ancillary delegate options.
“ መልካም ጉዞ ”…Safe Journey.