ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

A group of Ethiopian legislators Wednesday pledged a support to Turkey’s biggest cable producer to help resolve issues, which have been negatively affecting the company’s operations in Ethiopia.

The members of the Ethiopian parliament representing all standing committees visited BMET cable plant, which was partially ransacked during the 2016 anti-government violent demonstrations.

Ihsan Buyukmihci, the company’s co-owner and manager, briefed the members of the parliament about the issues.

He said that it was difficult to produce and sell cables at local and international markets in 2016.

“There was a security problem, shortage of foreign currency, and recurrent power outage,” the company’s official said.

“Now, we have local orders of worth $600 million and markets from Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria have started approaching us,” he said.

However, he said there were permanent problems needed to be resolved by the Ethiopian government.

“We need a guarantee from the Ethiopian side to facilitate the credit we have been given by the Turkish Exim bank,” he said, adding: “The slow and expensive certification problems must also be addressed.”

The Ethiopian government shall also support the company in its efforts to begin copper mining, Buyukmihci said.

Girma Mekonnen, the leader of the parliamentary group, assured that they would raise the issue to the highest level in the government.

“We will push the issues to the highest level in the government, and we will also follow it up,” he said.

Turkish ambassador to Ethiopia, Fatih Ulusoy, urged the parliamentarians to support the company, which was determined to work under difficult circumstance last year.