Gonder city in Ethiopia's northern Amhara regional state plans to build an industrial park on 250 hectares of land.
Asfaw Gebregzabher, deputy head of Gonder city's Trade, Industry and Development office said on Thursday the planned industrial park will house industries focused on textile and garment sector, sesame production and edible oil.
"The industrial park is expected to accommodate up to 200 plants in total with job opportunities for 20,000 youth expected to be created by firms which invest in the industrial park," says Gebregzabher.
Ethiopia, East Africa's most populous country with around 100 million people sees industrial parks as a way to create employment opportunities for 60 percent of Ethiopians who are in the youth group.
It also sees industrial parks as a way to help the country achieve fast economic growth, earn much needed export revenues and initiate structural economic changes for a still largely agrarian economy.
Currently, 15 industrial parks have been constructed or are under construction which Ethiopia hopes will boost export in the manufacturing sector and create 2 million direct and 4.4 million indirect jobs by 2025.