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Three
days after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had a showdown, on
March 18, with his Parliamentary political rivals over their
allegations of the neglect of the drought problem in eastern
and southern parts of the country, when delivering his
half-year report, Tesfalem Waldyes, Special to Fortune, was
dispatched to Borena, one of the 17 zones in the Oromia
Regional State. What he sew there was an alarmingly
escalating drought that caused a rising death toll of
cattle, and insufficient humanitarian responses by local
authorities. The people felt neglected. Experts warn, that
if there is one more failure of rain in the coming season,
the consequences will be too horrific to contemplate.
Find
Out More |
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Business Woman Outbids Nyala Insurance |
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Haimanot Business Plc wins bid for Mina Building. Other
bidders were Meseret Melaku, who offered 30 million Br,
Nesiru Gebru (31.4 million Br), Sisay Damtew (42.7 million
Br) and Chaku Business Plc; the latter became the second
highest bidder with an offer only 5,000 Br than what the
winning bid offered
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Bole to Get 70m Br First Radar Installation |
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The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) is to
buy radar for commercial flights’ surveillance, at a
budgeted cost of 70 million Br. It will be one of
the 15 capital expenditures that the Authority plans
to make in the current fiscal year, of which four
are new: Procurement and installation of an HF
transmitter, receiver and communication facilities;
design and construction of air navigation facilities
for Gode Airport; and renovation of the aviation
training facility.
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Ethiopia Postpones WTO Meeting |
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A high level delegation of 240 under the Minister
of Trade and Industry, Girma Birru, decided to
postpone a crucial meeting scheduled for this week
in Geneva, Switzerland, owing to the unavailability
of a chairman of the working party at the World
Trade Organization (WTO).
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Awassa Controls Prices |
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Municipal officials in Awassa town, the seat of
Southern regional state 276Km south of Addis Abeba,
have decided to fix prices on consumer goods and are
determined to enforce it.
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Ethiopian Bankers Excluded from Nairobi conference |
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Ethiopian bankers seem to have been overlooked from
the ‘African Banking elite’s second annual African
Banking Technology Conference (ABTC) to be held in
neighboring Nairobi from April 1-3, 2008.
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Finance Ministry Approves Supplementary
Budget Requests |
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The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED)
approved a 193 million Br supplementary budget for
the Ethio-German Engineering Capacity Building
Programme (ecbp), and the Textile and Garment
Industry Institute. Sufian Ahmed, minister of
Finance and Economic Development, approved the
budget two weeks ago after the budget department of
the Ministry evaluated the requests made by the two
companies.
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Duty, Taxes on Edible Oil Lifted |
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The government has lifted duties and withholding tax
from edible palm oil in its effort to cool off the
rising cost of living. The revision will take effect
as of March 29, Girma Birru, minister of Trade and
Industry (MoTI), confided in a press conference held
at his office last week on Friday.
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Proposed Restructuring of Standards Authority |
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The Ethio-German Partnership Project, Engineering
Capacity Building Programme (ecbp), presented a
proposal to the council of ministers requesting the
restructuring of the Quality and Standards Authority
of Ethiopia (QSAE). The proposal primarily intends
to outsource part of the authority’s tasks to the
private sector.
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Dry Port Bill Tabled |
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The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC)
tabled a dry port bill to the House of Peoples
Representatives for endorsement last week on March
25. The Infrastructural and Legal Administration
Standing Committees are expected to appraise the
bill before it becomes a law.
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Implementation of Bio-fuel Development
Strategy in Pipeline |
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The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED)
established a forum that enables it to implement the
bio- fuel development and utilization strategy. In
its first assembly held at the Ministry’s
headquarters located off the road from CMC to
Megenagna on March 28, the forum discussed issuing a
directive that guides the execution of the strategy.
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GEE to Produce Non-edible Oil from Castor
Seeds |
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Global Energy Ethiopia (GEE), an extension of the
Global Energy Pacific Ltd, based in Nevada, USA
started castor seeding in the last few weeks to
produce alternative energy from organic solid and
energy wastes. The company hopes to harvest
28,000tns of seeds in August to September 2008,
producing approximately 12,000 tonnes of castor oil.
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Soaring Prices Crux of WFP Chief's Latest
Visit |
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The new Executive Director of World Food
Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran, wants to make her
second visit to Addis Abeba to bring public
attention to rising prices on grains that affect her
agency's operations in humanitarian assistance in 78
countries. The Executive Director is to visit
Ethiopia this week from April 1-2, 2008, according
to a press release issued by WFP on Friday.
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Microsoft
Launches New Software |
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Following the introduction of Microsoft Window
Vista to Ethiopia under the ‘unlimited potential’
programme last year, delegates of Microsoft, the
world’s leading software company, told Fortune
that new window software will be accessible to the
Ethiopian market by the end of this Ethiopian fiscal
year.
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Rejection of Millers Association Requests |
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The Ministry of Trade Industry (MoTI) has turned
down the requests tabled by the Ethiopian Millers
Association. In a bid to increase the supply of
flour, the Association had, on February 26, 2008
solicited the ministry to consider enforcing two
ideas.
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The Forging of an India-Africa Business
Partnership |
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Out of close to 50 display spaces in the Shahejan
hall of the Taj Palace Hotel, a five star luxury
hotel in New Delhi, the capital of India, most are
occupied by Indian companies while the remaining
house embassy representatives of African countries.
New Delhi was the venue for the fourth India-Africa
Project Partnership Conclave held from 19- 21 March
this year.
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Ethiopia has a long way to go Towards
Achievement of MDGs |
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Ethiopia’s lagging human development indices are
slowing its pace in progress towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to
Salil Shetty, director of the MDG campaign at the
United Nations. The country, which is claimed to
have registered an over 10pc economic growth for
five consecutive years, still needs to work on
improving the living standards of its population.
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