The 25th regular session of the Ethiopian Council of Ministers has unanimously endorsed three draft bills on economic, political and social areas and referred them to the House of Peoples Representatives for further scrutiny and approval.
The draft bills are on personal data protection, rural land use and management and transforming the current Industrial Parks System into Special Economic Zones.
The personal data protection draft bill is drafted to build the nation’s personal data protection system pursuant to the international standards and gain multi-faceted benefits. One such a benefit is its role in building digital economy.
The rural land use and management draft bill targets at establishing a rural land use and management system in order to align the living standards of the farmers, semi-pastoralists and pastoralists to Ethiopia’s current economic, political and social development status.
The third draft bill, the transformation of the current industrial parks system into special economic zones, is meant to accelerate the economic growth pace of the nation.
The council of ministers also believes the special economic zone package is a key tool to create conducive and efficient investment and trade climate, to augment the benefit from the international trade value chain as well as to strengthen the nation’s ability to compete effectively through trade and regional integration.