Egypt will establish a large company for the cultivation of tobacco in Ethiopia in collaboration with a number of international companies specialized in the production and processing of raw tobacco, APA news agency cited Egypt’s Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid as saying.
Rachid told reporters on Tuesday that this project comes within the framework of enhancing cooperation between Egypt and the Nile Basin countries.
Rachid added that the resources of Egyptian Company for Chemical Industries, which will establish this project in Ethiopia, amounted to about $1.5 billion at the state treasury in 2010.
Last February, Egypt’s cigarette monopoly Eastern Company was negotiating with the Ethiopian government to buy 10-20 hectares of land for growing tobacco.
