Speaking on Saturday September 11, 2006 - the closing day of the
Addis Abeba University Strategic Planning Conference, Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi, standing here next to University President, Andreas
Eshete, had some hard-hitting words for his audience. He told his
listeners that his government was dissatisfied with the quality of
graduates coming out of Ethiopian higher education institutions and,
sharing responsibility, said the government and universities needed
to make education "generate employable manpower."
Meles Unhappy
with Present Day Graduates’ Quality
Speaking to
hundreds of students, academicians, government officials and
diplomats, at a packed Ethiopian Conference Centre, Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi said that his government was dissatisfied with the
quality of graduates coming out of Ethiopian higher education
institutions.
He was speaking
on the closing day of the Addis Abeba University Strategic Planning
Conference, which took place from November 7 to 11, 2006, which
discussed the University’s future. AAU’s draft vision statement,
which could be ratified in April 2007, declares that the University
aspires “to be a pre-eminent African research institute”.
Two years after
submission and three months after a stern reminder from Minister
Girma Birru of Trade and Industry, the Council of Ministers last
week finally approved the Memorandum of Foreign Trade Regime (MFTR),
the prerequisite for Ethiopia’s accession to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).
The WTO gave
the nod to Ethiopia in January 2003 to submit the document, which
comprises the country’s policies, laws and regulations and the
procedures of their implementation on trade, finance, agriculture as
well as intellectual property rights.
Joining the myriad other
efforts to draw foreign investment into the Ethiopian economy, the government
has established the National Foreign Investment Advisory Council with a mandate
to attract foreign investors in various sectors.
The Council is chaired by
Girma Birru, minister of Trade and Industry.
Abi Woldemeskel, general
manager of the Ethiopian Investment Agency is the deputy chairman; other members
include Abera Deresa (PhD), state minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Tekeda Alemu (PhD), state minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as
representatives from the Privatisation and State Enterprises Supervising Agency
(PPESA), regional governments and private companies.
On the same day
that the balance of power in the US foreign policy establishment was
flung into question with the surprising resignation of Donald
Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defence, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice swore-in Ambassador Cindy Courville as the first US envoy to
the African Union (AU). She will be based in Addis Abeba on the same
premises as the US mission to Ethiopia on Algeria Street.
More than 200
diplomats, friends and family members joined Secretary Rice at the
November 8 swearing-in for Courville at the State Department in
Washington DC. National Security Council (NSC) Advisor Stephen
Hadley also attended.
Foreign executives of a bio-diesel company that were here for talks
with the investment officials of the Southern Regional State two
weeks ago ended discussions early following an ethnic clash that
broke out in the region.
Becco Bio-Fuel
Ethiopia Plc, established by Israeli and American investors with a
capital of 582.7 million Br, was granted 3,000ht in Amaro Special
Woreda, in the Southern Regional State for the production of bio
fuel from castor seeds.
Africa Dev't Bank
Financing Ethio-Kenya Power Study
The Africa
Development Bank (ADB) has pledged a half a million dollars for a
feasibility study for the Ethiopia-Kenya Power System
Interconnection Project, the ambitious plan to provide Kenya with
Ethiopian hydropower.
The decision to
grant half of the initial amount needed for the study was made on
October 25, 2006.
Rendezvous
Hotels and Tourism Plc may get the contract for the Abule Basuma
Lodge in a controversial negotiation with the Confederation of
Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU).
CETU had leased
the lodge to Iaconna Touring Plc in 1998 for 10,000 Br a month, with
an advance payment of 150,000 Br. Located on the banks of Lake
Langano, the lodge, which opened in 1989, has 72 bedrooms, a
swimming pool and a horse racing track.
A labour dispute between workers at the Dragados J&P – AVAX joint
venture and management has been amicably resolved with the
intervention of State Minister Zenebech Tadesse from the Ministry of
Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA).
The workers and
their labour union had filed suits at regional and federal courts in
the Amhara Regional State and Addis Abeba over employee benefits.
The workers had also staged demonstrations over the same issue.
Rising costs of
petroleum have led the Rural Electric Fund Administration to turn
its attention from diesel to renewable energy-based projects.
Created in 2003
under the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MoME) with funds from the
World Bank and the Global Environment Fund, the 15 million dollar
programme has so far received 240 project applications from
cooperatives, communities and private companies.
Fed Transport
Authority Freezes Assn. Bank Account
The Federal
Transport Authority controversially ordered two banks to freeze the
accounts of Africa Alem Public Transport Private Bus Owners
Association in an attempt to complete the removal of Board members
who were voted out on Saturday, November 4, 2006, after the
Authority’s direct intervention.
Yibeltal
Ashenafi was forced to cede his position of Board chairman, which
used to bring him 2,180 Br a mounth, to Tilahun Fenta, who is
foreign trade promotion team leader of the Ethiopian Customs
Authority and owns two buses, one in his own name, the other through
power of attorney.
Developers who
missed an extended October 9 deadline to start construction are to
lose the plots given to them by the former Provisional
Administration of Addis Abeba.
A month before
the old Administration of Arkebe Okubay had handed over municipal
authority to the Caretaker Administration on May 9, 2006, the
developers had been given an additional six months to begin
construction. This happened after they failed to start work within
18 months as required by the investment regulation.
City Launches Gotera Project,
Three Workers Killed
The Addis Abeba City Roads Administration (AACRA) signed a contract
with Shanghai Construction General Company to implement the Gotera
Interchange Construction Project, on Friday November 10, 2006 at the
Addis Abeba City Administration, a day after three workers were
killed during demolition work.
The design for
the project, worth 11.5 million Br, was done by East China
Investigation and Design Institute and was submitted to AACRA in
October 2006.
The Ethiopian Airlines Board of Directors, on October 26, 2006, saw
the replacement of three labour representatives who had served on
the Board for the past five years.
In accordance to elections that are held every five years, the
employees voted-in were Reta Melaku and Theodros Balcha, both
instructors from the Aviation Maintenance Training School (AMTS) and
Alemayehu Assefa, IT System and operation manager.
Third Duty Free
License Issued as Workers Complain
The Ministry of Revenues (MoR) has for the third time presented a
private company with a licence to sell duty free items at the Addis
Abeba Bole International Airport, despite strong protests by
employees of the state-owned Ethiopian Tourist Trading Enterprise (ETTE),
which had been the sole entity to sell duty free items for close to
40 years until three years ago.
Four years ago,
the Ethio-American Trade and Investment Council invited an Ethiopian
delegation led by then Minister of Trade and Industry, Kasahun Ayele,
currently Ambassador to Berlin, to visit four different American
states and explore Ethiopian cultural exhibition possibilities. On
the Houston leg of the visit, the team sat down in a Mexican
restaurant and began seriously envisioning a wide-ranging exhibit
that could attract millions of people, one that would include a
six-year loan of Lucy, Ethiopia’s beloved fossil. According to Dirk
Van Tuerenhout, PhD Curator of Anthropology at the Houston Museum of
Natural Science, Lucy will be the real star for his museum’s
visitors when the show opens just under a year from now. But are the
benefits worth the risks?
Tamrat G. Giorgis, FORTUNE STAFF WRITER, sat down with Dr.
Tuerenhout to find out.
Thirty minutes into 6pm on Thursday, November 9, 2006, the lights in
the hall at the National Theatre dimmed as the spotlight centered on
Fantahun Shewankochew, coordinator and assistant director of the
musical scene “Let There be Light” and master of ceremonies for the
evening.
After welcoming
guests and introducing the sample musical scene that was to take
place that evening. Fantahun took a bow, and disappeared behind the
thick burgundy curtains that lifted some minutes later to unveil a
42-member orchestra. They took a bow, applause erupted, the
conductor waved his hands and the symphony began.
ANALYSIS-A New Found Coziness
Between Chamber and Government
Tadelech Dalecha,
state minister for Culture and Tourism, was not happy to see the
Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce & Sectorial Association “think
small” on its new 200 million Br international trade center,
possibly to be built on a vast tract of plot located opposite the
CMC residential complex.
