ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia is ready to embrace a new wave of Chinese industrial transfers to enhance its manufacturing and industrialisation, which are vital to the African country’s sustainable development, Ethiopia President Mulatu Teshome said.

Teshome said his country was ready to receive any industries that were relocating from China to advance both nations’ development.

“Ethiopia has become one of the biggest recipients of textile industry relocation in Africa, and it is going to continue,” he said. “I advise my Chinese friends to really take the first step to fully relocate any of their industrial plants to Ethiopia, as we have made a list of incentive packages.”

He made the remarks in a joint interview in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa earlier this week, ahead of the visit of Premier Li Keqiang, who will undertake his first Africa tour since taking office last year.

Li is scheduled to visit Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya during the trip, which begins on Sunday and lasts for a week, officials said. Li will also visit the African Union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Teshome said Ethiopia had a culture and tradition of accommodating and ensuring the success of foreign direct investment through competent policies.

“We consider that if any serious investment fails in Ethiopia, then it is not the investor who failed but the country,” he added.

He also said the high-level visits by Chinese leaders reflect the friendship between the two countries, based on trust, understanding and respect.With their growing economic interdependence, Ethiopia and China are further strengthening bilateral relations through political, cultural and education exchanges as well as through technical assistance, he said.

“Ethiopia is benefiting from these bilateral relations in the aspect of the transfer of technology and know-how. And China is considered Ethiopia’s strategic development partner. The economic interdependence between our two countries is also growing,” Teshome added.

He also refuted Western rhetoric that claims China was dominating Africa to exploit the continent’s cheap raw materials and natural resources. He said the relationship between China and Ethiopia has been robust despite Ethiopia’s lack of mineral manufacturing or resource production.