COMESA's Revenue from Leather Increases by Three Bln Dollars

The Common Market of East and South African (COMESA) Countries' explained in its forum of discussion that was held at African Economic Commission announced that its income from leather and leather products jumped from four billion to seven billion dollars. Participants cited improvements in quality and quality control to account for the industry's growth.  

CBE Opens 195th Branch in Ginchi

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has opened its 195th branch in the town of Ginchi, west of Addis Abeba. It was stated at the inauguration ceremony that CBE has opened 17 branches in Addis Abeba and other parts of the country over the last 11 months alone. Government officials, CBE's senior management members and invited guests attended the inaugural ceremony. CBE has been in the banking sector for the last 65 years.

Zemilli Awarded ISO 9001-2000 Quality Management System

Zemilli Paint Factory, sister company of DH Geda Trade and Industry, has been awarded a ISO 9001-2000 quality management system certificate. Zemilli Paint Factory is the first of its kind to be honoured with this award in Ethiopia. Established in May of 1997, Zemill has tripled its initial capacity of one million litres per year. The product ranges of the company include architectural, decorative, industrial, adhesive and printing inks. Zemilli paints with its logo "Mega Paints" has earned a great reputation in supplying customer oriented products. The company allocates a significant portion of its annual earnings for research and development studies and activities and is always on the look out for new technologies and innovations in the coating world.

Dire Dawa Investors Granted Certifiate

The Transitional Administration of Dire Dawa has given an investment certificate for investors who have secured more than five billion Birr in the past years. It has also introduced a new plan that encourages investors in the new Millennium. According to Bohar Amme, the administration's investment department head, 25,000 employees benefited from 625 projects since 1993. The projects are mainly concentrated in agriculture while some are involved in agricultural processing, construction of houses, education and hotels. Out of these projects, 49 have already become operational. Others are still under construction and the remaining some projects have not yet started construction, the head confirmed.

Over 300 Agricultural Technologies Reach Farmers

Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute announced that it has distributed over 300 improved agricultural technologies to farmers over the past 16 years. The Institute distributed 350 improved technologies in cereal and animal resource to formers which is expected to fulfil their technological needs. The Institute also said that it has supplied farmers and different research centres over 14,000qt of improved varieties.

Over 30 Shops Locked Up

Thirty shops located behind the country's largest bus station found at Addis Ketema District, Kebele 13/15 withdrew providing services to their customers as a result of being locked up by the Small Scale Industries Development and Addis Abeba Warden Office. Some of the owners who were imposed action reveal that most of the shops are locked because they rented the houses from other individuals to whom the government previously gave them. The former owners rented their shops to the later ones because they say that they gained no result from what they were running.

India's Promoting for Millennium

The Ethiopian Millennium coincides with the 60th anniversary of India's independence and the Embassy has embarked on a series of activities to commemorate these two events. The Embassy's events will commence with the celebration of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday on October 2, 2007, which this year has been adopted by the United Nations (UN) as the international Non-Violence Day. The Embassy plans to celebrate the occasion with a blood donation camp on September 29, 2007 with the active support of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and the Indian Association at the chancery premises. The Millennium Gandhi Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Abune Poulos, patriarch of Ethiopian Orthodox Church, on October 2, 2007. The Embassy has offered a bust of Mahatma Gandhi to the headquarters of the African Union (AU) and a launch during the day in the presence of AU chair person and other dignitaries is being discussed.