By Somalilandtimes network

Sheikh Pass between Buroa and Berbera

Addis Ababa, Feb 11, 2006 – The Somaliland authorities are offering land to Ethiopian business people in a free trade zone in Berbera, a port of the Gulf of Aden.

At a meeting held here Saturday, officials of Berbera port asked Ethiopians to take land in Berbera to be used for building warehouses.

Ali Umer Mohammed, general manager of Berbera port, said the port administration was developing a free trade zone in Berbera, adding that a 25 sq km plot of land was prepared near the port.

The free trade zone has electric power, water, telephone lines and other utilities, he said.

"This is the first phase of a free trade zone development," said Mohammed.

Ethiopian business people could acquire plots of land in the free trade zone, he said, adding that the cost of the land was negotiable.

In November last year, the Ethiopian government started importing goods through Berbera port, 910 km east of Addis Ababa. So far, the port handled 1,500 tons of cargo that belongs to Ethiopian firms. The Somaliland authorities invited Ethiopian business people to visit the port.

Somaliland is an unrecognized de facto state located in northwest Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In May 1991, Somaliland people declared an independent Republic of Somaliland that now includes six of the eighteen administrative regions of Somalia, roughly the region between Ethiopia, Djibouti, Gulf of Aden and Somalia, an area of about 137,600 sq km.

Source: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY.

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