335 This is a one-stop-shop for all investors which renders the following services: • Provides the necessary information required by investors; • Approves and issues investment permits to foreign investors; • Provides trade registration services to foreign investors; • Issues operating licenses to approved foreign investments; • Notarises Memoranda of Association and Articles of Association; • Grades construction contractors; • Approves and registers technology transfer agreements; • Registers export-oriented non-equity based foreign enterprise collaborations; • Provides advisory and aftercare services to investors; approves expatriate posts and issues work permits to foreign employees; and, • Facilitates the acquisition of land and utilities by foreign investors. 336 Against this backdrop of investment promotion, Ethiopia has done remarkably well in investment performance, particularly with regard to foreign direct investment. According to the Ethiopian Investment Agency (EIA), 1,407 projects with registered investment capital of well over ETB 51.5 billion were licensed during the period, from July 2008 to April 2009. This is expected to create about 172,276 jobs. Furthermore, investment as a percentage of GDP increased from 10.7 percent in 1992/93 to 22 percent in 2007/08. Ethiopia has also enjoyed significant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows: the total stock of FDI in 2006 was US$ 3.133 billion, representing 23.5 percent of GDP. Hence, Ethiopia continues to rank very high among other developing countries in terms of its inward FDI Potential Performance Index. External Position 337 Information availed to the CRM shows that Ethiopia’s merchandise exports exhibited strong growth over the past five years, averaging 25.1 percent annually due to increases in both volumes and international prices of most export items. Coffee and non-coffee exports grew at about the same rate of 24 percent in 2007/08. But the heavy dependency on coffee has been gradually falling. Coffee’s share in export earnings fell from 39.6 percent in 2004/05 to 35.8 percent in 2007/08 because of relatively faster growth in earnings from non-coffee exports.  - 142 -