U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Patricia Haslach speaks to more than 300 guests, including the President of Ethiopia, at the Second International Coffee Conference.

Robert Sauers, USAID Ethiopia

(l-r) Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association President Hussein Agraw, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome, and State Minister of Trade Yakob Yala at the opening of the Second International Coffee Conference in Addis Ababa.

Robert Sauers, USAID Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 4, 2013 – More than 300 Ethiopian and international participants including Ethiopian President Dr. Mulatu Teshome, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Patricia Haslach, and Secretary General of the Inter-Africa Coffee Organization Fred Kawuma attended today’s opening of the second international coffee conference, “Building a Sustainable Coffee Future.” Through presentations by Ethiopian and international experts, conference participants learned about the global market and the Ethiopian coffee industry and gained new perspectives on business opportunities from industry leaders, such as Starbucks, Nestle and Mondelēz International.

The Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association (ECEA) and other coffee industry leaders and stakeholders joined with the U.S. Government as a major sponsor for this strategic event.  Developing the coffee value chain is an important part of USAID’s Agricultural Growth Program-Agribusiness Market Development, the flagship project under the U.S. President’s Feed the Future initiative in Ethiopia.

“We have confidence that the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association will continue to grow and the Ethiopian coffee sector will thrive,” said Ambassador Haslach.  “The United States has been and will continue to be a longstanding and committed partner in the development of Ethiopia’s coffee sector, including the Coffee Exporters Association, its private sector members and smallholder farmers, and the Government of Ethiopia.”

Complementing the conference and highlighting the uniqueness of Ethiopia’s coffee was the Alignment Cupping event, which brought together international and national cuppers with exporters and buyers to evaluate and score a variety of Ethiopia’s coffees using the internationally recognized Q grades for quality.

Other conference topics included traceability in Ethiopia, supplier-buyer business linkages, Ethiopia’s evolution to greater productivity and enhanced quality, and the role of women in Ethiopia’s coffee sector.

Remarks by Ambassador Haslach [PDF, 146 KB]

Related Resources

USAID Ethiopia: Agriculture and Food Security

USAID Ethiopia: Feed the Future

USAID Ethiopia: Private Sector