Azeb Mesfin, wife of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and chair of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs, is keen to see a 387-page Amharic book, with the title ‘Galiheti Segi,’ distributed in every school, college and university across the country. Authored by Mulugeta Debalkew, a fighter himself who once served as the editor-in-chief of Weyin, the Tigray People Liberation Front’s (TPLF’s) official organ, the book is an un-commissioned history of the armed struggle waged by the TPLF, between 1975 and 1991. The book, printed at Mega Printing, managed by Azeb, was inaugurated on Friday afternoon, January 29, 2010, at the Hilton. Azeb was not disappointed; several invitees pledged to buy hundreds of books, with a cover price of 80 Br, and donate them to schools in the Tigray Regional State. Among the major donors was Daniel Mebrhatu, from Dan Technocrat, who committed to by copies worth 10,000 Br. He was matched by Gebregziyabher Ambaye, owner of a transport company, who pledged to buy 2,000 copies. Although several others promised to buy a couple of hundred copies, none would come close to Getu Gellete, from Get As International. Getu, who was at the Hilton during the book’s launch, pledged to pay for copies worth 50,000 Br. He would like to see the book’s author or distributors (Mega Book Store) distribute the copies he paid for in the way they see fit. The printing cost of the book, with 20,000 copies ordered and half already printed, according to sources, was sponsored by companies such as Guna Trading, TransEthiopia (both subsidiaries of EFFORT), Woinwu Curtain, Sara Coffee Exporters, as well as Harar Brewery.

The inauguration of the Media Complex of Radio Fana took place on Saturday, January 30, 2010 while celebrating its 15th anniversary at the same time. It was during this happy occasion that (from left to right) Woldu Yimsal, general manager of Radio Fana happily briefed Bereket Simon, government communication officer and Addisu Legesse, deputy prime minster on how the tape reels generate sound. The construction which has been done by Varnero Construction took 20 months with over 60 million Br of construction capital. The station is owned by Endowment Companies comprising Tumas, Wando, EFFORT and Tiret group.

The African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Abeba inaugurated a tele-medicine facility funded by the Indian government on Thursday, January 28, 2010. This project was part of the bigger, Pan-African e-Network Project by the Indian government that equipped the Addis Abeba University Medical Faculty at Tikur Anbessa with a tele-medicine facility back in July 2007. The project took up over 116 million dollars out of the 5.4 billion dollar budget for the further networking of 47 countries.

"No price can be put on the human talent at play," Shashi Tharoor, the Indian state minister for External Affairs said during the ceremony, where he was joined by Jean Ping (PhD), chairperson of the African Union Commission.

The facility is expected to share knowledge through the new network setup with 22 Indian health related institutions.

The uplink uses an Indian satellite for the connection, and is envisioned to foster medical care and education in the AU community, according to the Indian state minister.

"We currently expect the AU community to be the beneficiaries of the medical services," he told Fortune.

This has to do with the space constraints that the medical centre at AU headquarters faces, according to Brook Tsehay (MD), radiologist, at the centre, who feels the new facility presents vast opportunities for identifying sicknesses through discussion, and sharing of rich experiences between both the AU and India.

"The new building under construction for the AU headquarters will have a larger medical facility," Brook said. "That's when the services are expected to reach out to the local community."

The new building is expected to be completed in three years time.

Paavo Väayrynen, Finnish minister for Foreign Trade and Development, attended the opening ceremony of the Foreign Ministers meeting of the African Union on Thursday, January 28, 2010.

The meeting was conducted to make preparations for the Assembly of the African Union to be held at the level of Heads of State and Government.

Minister Väayrynen delivered a speech that focused on sustainable development and the significance of development of the information society in Africa.

Finland has supported preparations for the 14th African Union Summit by placing an information and communication technology expert at the African Union's disposal and is also planning wider support in the information and communication sectors in the African Union.

The World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick is scheduled to arrive in Addis Abeba on January 30, 2010 around 6 o'clock in the evening. His stay is believed to last for four days.

During his stay, the president is expected to visit the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) and a shoe manufacturing firm, SoleRebels, located around Zenebworq area of the Kolfe Keraniyo District.

SoleRebels currently employs 45 full-time staff members who can produce up to 500 pairs of shoes a day. The firm also has plans to begin construction of a solar-powered factory near the current workshop, to allow for expanded production.

The president's trip to Addis Abeba was the last leg that ended his visit to Africa. The engagement in Africa had scheduled the president to three nations which was to last eight days. The two other countries visited were Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Microsoft signed a partnership agreement to promote development of regional cooperation in Africa by leveraging Information Communications Technology ICT, Friday, January 29, 2010.

The agreement was signed between Abdoulie Janneh, United Nations under-secretary general and executive secretary of ECA and Cheick Modibo Diarra, chairman of Microsoft Africa at the UNECA headquarters.

This was a pre-event to the 14th African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government with the theme "Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development".

UNECA and Microsoft, through the public-private partnership, will employ their expertise to access software and technical support; local software development and capacity building in ICT. In addition, supporting the development of Africa's e-government programmes through enhanced use of ICT is part of the partnership agreement between the two parties.

The partnership is also expected to include collaboration on issues relating to safeguarding intellectual property, security of information systems and networks and minimising the impact of attacks on citizens and critical infrastructures.

Microsoft will assist in technology infrastructure planning for the UNECA's Information Technology Centre for Africa and provide curriculum and certification to ITCA trainers so that they can in turn teach ICT skills.

The German Academic Exchange Service, Deutcher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), announced its intention to recruit three to five international experts as vice-chancellors (presidents).

The recruitment was done in order to enhance the process of developing autonomous, active and internationally recognised universities in Ethiopia. The experts will lead the process of transforming an existing Ethiopian university into a relevant and competitive international university contributing to the industrial development of the country.

Currently, there is only one university in Ethiopia which has a foreign president; Herbert Eichele (Prof.) of the Adama University.

The experts are expected to represent the university to external and internal stakeholders. Together with the university board, they will promote the development and profiling of the university and establish a higher institution of international relevance.

The Oromia Insurance Company has requested for a plot of land from the Addis Abeba City Administration. It needs the land for the construction of its headquarters near the National Bank of Ethiopia, company officials disclosed.

The city had responded by asking the company to present a preliminary design, the officials also said. MH Engineering has offered to do the design for free, Mitiku Abdissa, managing director of the company, told Fortune.

The company made this announcement at the celebration of its first anniversary and customer day at the Hilton Addis Hotel on January 26, 2010. It has 540 shareholders, out of which only 57 have so far fully paid their subscribed shares in the company.

The company is also preparing to construct a building in Adama, whose design is being undertaken by Adugna Consulting Engineers, Mitiku said.

In its first year of operation, Oromia Insurance had 28.8 million Br Gross Written Premium out of which 48pc was from motor insurance. In 1999, it made payments for 69 claims amounting 2.4 million Br, with motor insurance taking a larger share of 2.1 million Br out of the total claims paid. 

The new package of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concessional facilities, to support low-income countries, became effective as of January 7, 2010.

This far-reaching reform more than doubles lending resources, provides exceptional interest relief, and offers new lending instruments that are more flexible and responsive to individual country needs, according to an IMF press release.

Key elements of the reform include three new lending instruments, interest relief, and permanently higher concessionality.

The Extended Credit Facility will provide flexible medium-term support; the Standby Credit Facility will address short-term and precautionary needs; and the Rapid Credit facility will offer emergency support with limited conditionality.

The Fund has also relieved developing countries from paying interest on outstanding IMF concessional loans until the end of 2011 to help low-income countries cope with the global crisis. Permanently higher concessionality of Fund financial support refers to regularly reviewed annual interest rates so as to preserve a higher level of concessionality.

People rushed to Miki's Fashion attracted by a big sale that involved 15 to 70pc discounts starting from Wednesday, December 23, 2009. Women enjoyed "broad selections at bargain prices" while some male shoppers were heard complaining of "lack of size options, selection varieties and next to zero discounts." The sale is expected to last for a month unless Miki's runs out of stock by then. It is in all its branches in Addis Abeba. Miki's shop at Getu Commercial Center was overwhelmed by large numbers of eager shoppers.

Meaza Ashenafi (left), founder and former executive director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, is now the chairperson of the committee which initiated the idea of starting a women's bank, currently under formation. Last Friday evening, November 13, 2009, the initiators invited prominent businesswomen to a consultation meeting held at the Belgium Embassy. Rahel Zewde, wife of Gunther Sleeuwangen, Belgian Ambassador to Ethiopia, is one of the ten women initiators who are involved in different business sectors. The initiators, who submitted their application to the National Bank of Ethiopia more than a week ago, are waiting for its approval to open a blocked account and start selling shares to the public. They expect the approval to come within a week or two.

The Ethio Poultry Expo was held at the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre from November 4 to 6, 2009. The expo was organized by a Sudanese company, Expo Team Services Co. with an Ethiopian partner Prana Promotion. The organizers expressed their hope that the expo would be a springboard to attract international companies to enter the poultry markets in Ethiopia and other African countries. Culture and Tourism State Minister, Mahmoud Ahmed Gass, visited the expo where various poultry technologies were displayed.

The construction of the condominium houses of the Gergi site were completed six months ago. Since then, residents have started moving in. Nonetheless, the houses have no electricity and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) was only able to provide power to some of the residents. Consequently, residents with no access to power are sharing with those who have power by using cables which they have extended themselves. Some of the cables extend for 400 metres, Abebe Daneo, a resident, told Fortune. The cables cost about one Birr per metre and the selling residents could charge the buyers up to 50 Br for a month's share of electricity.