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MILK CONUNDRUM |
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Ethiopia’s livestock population is
often said to be the largest in Africa. The cattle
population is estimated to be 53.3 million, of which
female cattle constitute about 55.5pc, producing 4.1
billion litres of milk in the 2010/11 fiscal year.
However, only 15.8pc of the milk
produced is sold in the market, whereas 54.7pc of
milk produced is consumed at home. The total amounts
to 2.9 billion litres, according to a Central
Statistical Agency (CSA) sample survey report
published in September 2011.The remaining, 29.6pc of
the milk produced, is converted into butter and
cheese. Based on the CSA’s survey, the annual per
capita consumption of milk in Ethiopia is estimated
to be 37.6 litres, which is 139pc less than the 90
litres recommended by the World Health Organisation
(WHO).
Read More |
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NEWS |
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Indians Remain Indomitable in Multimillion-dollar TextBook
Contracts |
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A series of contracts, issued by the Ministry of
Education (MoE) to hire foreign printers for high
school textbooks, has gone to Indian companies, a
trend that has been consistent over the past three
years. |
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National Mining Corporation Hits Jackpot |
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After 15 years of exploration and spending 79
million Br, senior managers at National Mining
Corporation (NMiC) announced, last week, the
discovery of the largest gold reserves ever
discovered, in Oromia and Tigray regional states.
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City Bus to Send Team Abroad to Study GPS, Electronic
Ticketing |
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Managers at the Anbessa Bus Transport Enterprise
have received positive nod from the company’s board
of directors two weeks ago to send a team of four
overseas to study the electronic ticketing method
and how global positioning system (GPS) technology
could be deployed in their buses for fleet tracking. |
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New Roads Corporation Gets in Full Gear |
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A new state corporation branching out from the
Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has been awarded its
second road project last week, five months after its
incorporation. Previously the operational arm of the
ERA, the Ethiopian Roads Construction Corporation (ERCC)
was formed in July 2011, with a capital of 2.5
billion Br, accountable to the Ministry of Transport
(MoT). |
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Sheraton Loses Renowned Banquet Manager to Tragic Accident |
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Tsegaye Deneke, a senior manager at the Sheraton
Addis responsible for banquets and outside catering,
died with three other passengers in a tragic car
accident on Thursday night, December 29, 2011.
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Ministry Sees Spirited Interest from Int’l Firms to Survey
Scenery of Tana |
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Close to 16 international and local consulting firms
have shown an interest in undertaking a lifesaving
topographic survey of Lake Tana, the largest lake in
the country, better known for being the source of
the Blue Nile, which is hoped will enable the
dangers frequent floods. |
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New Edifices to Adorn Half of Districts in Capital for 1.5b
Br |
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Residents in Addis Abeba will soon marvel at new
edifices when visiting district offices to undertake
their municipal affairs. The city administration has
approved a 1.5 billion Br budget to finance the
construction of 10-storey buildings to house five of
the 10 district offices in the capital. |
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Directive to Speed Up Customs Process for Manf’rs, Except
for Seven |
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The Ethiopian Revenues & Customs Authority (ERCA)
issued a new directive last week that grants
companies with manufacturing plants to be served
based on their transaction costs when importing raw
materials, including machinery and spare parts.
However, the Authority has excluded imports for the
production of semi-finished blankets, bed covers,
shoes, batteries, and umbrellas, as it identified
them as goods subjected to abuse of under invoicing. |
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Ministry Claims 33.3m Br from Buyers for Loans Gov’t Takes |
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In a rare case, where owners of a privatised company
with loans taken while it was under the state’s
possession are now facing a legal battle from the
government which demands them to settle loans that
it took when it was the owner. |
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Judge Accepts Case over Allegedly Overdue CCD Homes |
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One of Addis Abeba’s upscale real estate property
builders have faced a legal challenge from half
dozen disgruntled homebuyers, but residing abroad.
Six defendants have filed a civil suit against
Country Club Developers Plc (CCD) at the Federal
High Court’s Six Civil Bench, in mid December 2011. |
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Court Closes Vergnet, Hydro Case for Lack of Jurisdiction |
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A Presiding judge, at the Federal High Court Eighth
Civil Bench closed a 50.4 million Br civil suit
between Vergnet SA, a French company involved in a
wind farm project in Ethiopia, and Hydro
Construction & Engineering Company Ltd for lack of
jurisdiction. |
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DMC Absence in Court No Roadblock to NOC’s 46.4m Br Claim |
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Despite its absence from the Federal High Court, Six
Civil Bench, DMC Construction Plc has faced yet
another legal hurdle last week from what now appears
to be its archrival company. Following an appeal by
lawyers from the National Oil Company (NOC)
Ethiopia, the Court passed a ruling to adjudicate
the 46.4 million Br suit. The defendant neither
responded to the charge nor was present in the court
hearings. |
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/FEATURE
Used Furniture Market Boom Comforts Smaller Budgets |
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With the increasing number of people moving into and
out of different homes, partially due to the large
number of condos being transferred to new owners and
tenants as well as people moving out of and back
into the country, the market for second-hand
furniture has recently boomed, writes HADRA AHMED,
FORTUNE STAFF WRITER. There has been an increase in
the demand as well as the supply. |
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/INTERVIEW
WITH
WTO
Ball Lies in Ethiopia’s Court |
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Joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a global
trade watchdog founded in 1995 where there are now
157 countries, is an arduous journey. Judging by the
experiences of countries such as Russia, whose
delegates showcased a concert in Geneva,
Switzerland, celebrating their accession to the WTO
this month after negotiating for 18 years,
Ethiopia’s nearly nine years might seem too short to
complain. Neighbouring Sudan, for instance, has been
on the waiting list for 18 years.
Although trade negotiators have traced Ethiopia’s
involvement in global trade governance since 1953,
it has not been member of the family and had
remained an observer in the predecessor of the WTO,
the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT), was
founded in the late 1940s. Not even when the WTO
came about in 1995 did Ethiopia change its status,
while many others, such as Kenya and Djibouti took
advantage of becoming founding members.
Countries joining the WTO following its foundation
have been required to give in a lot more concessions
than those that signed at its founding in 1995.
However, proponents of the global trade watchdog
attribute the benefits of membership as much to
reforms in domestic laws and policies governing
trade as to opening up sectors to foreign goods and
services.
Mekonnen Manyazewal, minister of Industry, and
Ethiopia’s chief trade negotiator following Girma
Birru, agrees. Seated for a brief conversation with
Tamrat G. Giorgis, managing editor of Fortune, in
Geneva, Switzerland, two weeks ago, while he was
attending the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference, he
said that joining the WTO is a “worthwhile”
undertaking. |
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/INTERVIEW
Offers on Goods, Services, Please - Soon! |
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Among the crucial phases that countries joining the
Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) need to
go through is the negotiation phase, involving
member countries in a bilateral manner. Subsequent
to submission to the memorandum on foreign trade
regime, a fat document that lists all laws and
policies governing international trade, member
countries come forth with a list of questions
demanding clarification. The country applying to
join should reply to the questions.
To date, three countries - the United States (US),
Canada, and the European Union (EU) - have given
Ethiopia their lists, for the second time, now.
This process is to be managed by a working group
appointed by the General Council of the WTO,
immediately after a country submits its application
for membership. So, a working party for Ethiopia
formed on February 10, 2003, a month after the
submission of Ethiopia’s application.
The British diplomat, Neil McMillan, was
subsequently appointed to serve as a chairman, in
May 2003, of the first working party, where there
are 26 countries interested in engaging with
Ethiopia. He stayed on up until May 2009, a time
when not much happened and only one working party
meeting took place.
The Danish Steffen Smidt (PhD) was appointed by the
General Council as Ethiopia’s working party chair in
October 2010. Talking to Tamrat G. Giorgis, the
managing editor of Fortune, in Geneva, he urged
Ethiopian trade negotiators to submit their offers
on goods and services as soon as possible so that
the working party can move on with launching
negotiations on market access. |
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