Today, we take you inside the 5th Annual Ethiopia-Canada Business & Investment Forum, where we’ve interviewed government officials, investors, and industry leaders. Join us as we uncover the insights and opportunities shaping economic cooperation between Ethiopia and Canada.”
In this exclusive interview at the Ethio-Canada Trade and Investment Forum 2023 in Toronto, William Muyuku sits down with Mesfin Ashebir, representative of Ethiopian Airlines in Canada to discuss the airline’s pivotal role in bolstering economic and trade relations between Ethiopia and Canada.
WM: Thank you again, sir, for giving us this interview.
In what ways does the Ethiopian airline contribute to enhancing economic and trade relations between Ethiopia and Canada, and how do you envision its role in the future?
MS: Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate your giving me this opportunity to explain what the Ethiopian Alliance does here in Canada and its overall strategies.
So, Ethiopian Alliance here has five weekly flights between Addis and Canada, and we’ve been flying here for the last 10 years.
In those 10 years, we’ve been contributing, economically and socially to the development of both Canada and Africa. We have facilitated the people-to-people exchange between Canada and the continent of Africa, we have also facilitated, the trade and investment through cargo exports and imports, as well as, facilitating the trade and investment opportunities between Canada and Africa.
Yeah, so even for the future, we have a very big plan, in Canada. We envision expanding even more, increasing our frequencies to Toronto and adding additional frequencies to other places in Canada as well. So, in the future, we’ll have even further strong ties and we’ll facilitate that, strong ties between Africa and Canada through trade and investment and the facilitation of transportation of goods and services.
You know, you cannot facilitate investment and trade without the important link between Canada and Africa through Air Service Transportation. So, the Ethiopian Airline is here, to facilitate that link and we’ll go strong on that endeavour.
WM: So, which means that investors can count on the European airline? To do business between not only Ethiopia but also the whole of Africa.
MS: Yeah, because Addis Ababa is a gateway to more than 61 destinations in Africa. So, you know, whatever flights that we have between Addis and Canada will connect Africa as well. So, the investment and trade opportunities between Canada and Africa will be facilitated through Ethiopian Airlines and its hub in Addis Ababa
WM: What makes Ethiopia Airlines apart from other airlines?
Besides the state-of-the-art aircraft, our inflight services, we have excellent connectivity in Addis. We always make sure that the connection between the hub and the next flight is within an hour or two, making it more or less a smooth transfer between the points, and online points. So that makes it very competitive and efficient and short for the customers as well. So they feel as if they are flying directly between the final destination and Canada.
WM: If you had a last word for that business person who’s watching you right now, or that’s someone, a simple person somewhere, who is planning to travel either to Africa or from Africa to Canada, if you have those two words, what can they be?
MS: Fly with Ethiopian Airlines directly between Africa and Canada. It’s one of the most direct flights we have between the two continents or countries. So choose Ethiopian Airlines and you’ll have a very great service, both for passengers and cargo business.
Thank you sir. Thank you.
For AfriCanadaTv: William Muyuku
