Keeping in line with Govt. of India’s stress on stronger and long-term cooperation between African countries and India for mutual benefits in the areas of agriculture, women empowerment, rural development, infrastructure etc, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has entered into a multimillion US dollar agreement with the Metal Industries Development Institute (MIDI), Ethiopia to implement a twinning programme.  The same is aimed at industrial R&D capacity building of MIDI. It should also facilitate CSIR’s future collaborations with African Organizations.

The agreement was signed on 7th June, 2017 at Addis Ababa in the gracious presence of H.E. Dr. Alemu Sime, State Minister of Industry, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Mr. Teshome Lemma, State Minister of Education, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Dr. Girish Sahni, Director General, CSIR and H.E. Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia, Djibouti and African Union.

The broader aim of this twinning program is to transform MIDI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from its present state to a benchmarked institution by bestowing on it the capability to provide state of the art services for the Ethiopian Metals industry at all levels of its value chain. The broad objectives would be directed at enhancements and metamorphoses of MIDI that will result in

• MIDI aligning itself with the Five-Year Transformation Plan for the Metals and Engineering sectors and with the national mandate of obtaining a “Middle Income Nation” status by 2025
• Acquiring excellence in Light Manufacturing in Africa
• Initiating heavy engineering industries
• Creation of provisions for indigenous consultations and support for the related industries including testing and certification
• Reorganization of the structural basis and catalyzing of human resource development through training of global standards thereby providing skilled and intellectual manpower for the Ethiopian metals and manufacturing sectors
• MIDI becoming capable of addressing all the issues of the Metal and Engineering Industry across value chains