Fed'l Supreme Court Commences E-Litigation

The Federal Supreme Court announced the commencement of its electronic litigation (e-litigation) system as of Monday, September 24, 2007. The introduction of e-litigation technology is part of the project to enhance the efficiency of the court process in which litigators could pursue their cases through Website-based support without requiring their physical presence in court, Dagnachew Kassa, managing director of the Supreme Court, asserted. Although the implementation of this technology will be introduced in all the regional courts step by step, Dire Dawa will be the first one which to embrace e-litigation technology, Dagnachew said.

Nokia Launches Amharic Compatible Mobile Phone

Nokia launched the first generation cell phone designed to customise with Amharic text. On the occasion of the launch, five industry-leading feature-devises - Nokia 1200, 1208, 1650, 2630 and 2760 - were introduced as specifically designed for the Ethiopian market with an Amharic keypad, according to a representative of Nokia's East African region division. Nokia's first official introduction of its products in the Ethiopian market was marked by the announcement by its authorised distributor, Glorious Plc, late last week. 

CBE Secures $208m Loan for Cement, Hydropower

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) secured 208 million dollars in a loan agreement with the Export and Import Bank of China (EIBC) on Monday, September 24, 2007. This agreement was signed in the presence of Abie Sano, president of CBE, and his counterpart, Li Ruogu, president of EIBC, that would finance the expansion project of Mugher Cement Enterprise as well as to build the Fincha-Amerti-Neshe multi-purpose projects to embrace the construction of hydropower generation and irrigation. The two counties have recently signed 500 million dollars project finance loan agreement, Sufian Ahmed, minister of Finance and Economic Development, asserted.

Australia Chamber Delegation Aims to Increase Trade, Investment

A consultative meeting took place on Monday, September 24, 2007 between a delegation from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and its Ethiopia's counterpart, the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association, at the latter's conference hall. The consultative meeting was aimed at advancing the expansion of trade and investment between business communities of the two countries, according to the press release. 

Australia Chamber Delegation Aims to Increase Trade, Investment

The price of exported coffee has increased by 20pc at the central coffee tender. According to exporters, some two months ago the average price of export quality coffee was 320 Br per 17kg (feresula) before it went up to 400 Br per feresula last week.  The growing popularity of Ethiopian coffee amongst consumers in the coffee importing countries has led to the increment of the price of coffee at the export market, exporters suggested. If everything goes on as it stands for Ethiopian coffee in the international market, coffee farmers would stand to benefit sooner than later, they added.

First Batch of Buses Due to Arrive Within One Month

Finally, the first batch of 500 medium-sized buses is to arrive in Addis Abeba before the end of October 2007. Part of the plan to import 1,000 buses for the eve of the Millennium that was meant to ease the pressure of transportation shortages in Addis Abeba fell short of expectations due to the process with which opening of the Letter of Credit (LC) was delayed, Junedin Sado, minister of Transport and Communications (MoTC), said. Since the second Chinese bus manufacturer from whom another 500 medium-sized buses were dealt to be imported has already manufactured the buses and the detail of the bank process has been done accordingly, the second batch of the remaining 500 buses will be shipped soon, Junedin said.

Tigray Gets Three-Star Hotel

An Italian Hotelier constructed a three-star hotel at Howzen town, in the Tigray Regional State at a cost of five million Birr. The newly inaugurated hotel with 25 rooms, Geralta Lodge, is owned by Siliviano Reziti (Prof). Kebede Amare, Culture and Tourism commissioner of the State who honoured the inauguration of the international standard hotel said that Geralta Lodge is an additional value to provide efficient service for tourism attractions in the State.

Trolley Factory Showing Progress

Infrastructure facilities are now in place to plant the 100 million dollar electronic trolley bus manufacturing factory in Debre Markos town of the Amhara Regional State. According to Getachew Eshetu, owner of Afro-Asia Technical Trading Enterprise who will build the plant, the factory is expected to be completed in the current fiscal year. The installation of the factory would require Russian technology and would provide 5,000 jobs. A study conducted by the manufacturers of the new trolley bus factory indicated that Addis Abeba alone needs 1,200 trolley buses to address the problem of transport shortage and more so with this number of trolley buses available in the city, it would be possible for commuters to catch buses at each station every 15 minutes, the study stated. 

Largest Flower Farm Takes Land in Oromia

The largest flower farm in the country, Ethio-Midos with seed capital of 339 million Br has taken 367hct of land from the Investment Commission of the Oromia Regional State in Western Shewa Zone, Woliso town. According to Karaturi Seryara Rao, owner of Ethio-Midos, the flower farm will start to export flowers in 18 months and create employment for 5,000 people. Over the past 15 years, West Showa Zone has earned five billion Birr and over 16,000 people have been employed through the investment activities, a document at the investment office of the Zone indicates.