Beating customary trends, Tedros Adhanom, Ethiopian minister of Health (MoH), has been chosen as one of the keynote speakers of a healthcare conference to be organised by the Economist Group, publisher of The Economist, a UK-based weekly magazine. The conference, titled Healthcare in Africa, will be organised in Cape Town, South Africa, between March 6 and 7, 2012.

The conference, sponsored by Janseen Pharmaceuticals, and Philips, one of the largest manufacturers of medical equipment, will see participants discussing the futures of funding, partnership, and access for healthcare in Africa.

Tedros’s appearance will, indeed, be a rare presentation of an Ethiopian government official in such a highly technocratic conference.

After receiving his bachelor’s of science in biology from Asmara University in 1986 and his master’s degree in immunology of infectious diseases from the University of London in 1992, Tedros served in many expert positions. He became a state minister of health in 2004, before becoming a full minister, after one year of service.

Luxuries entrance

It may be true that Addis Abeba is transforming into a centre of economic, social, and political development in Ethiopia, if not Africa. But, it continues to host traditional modes of transportation as shown above. The donkey carrying hay down a street is seen competing with a four wheel drive for both space and time. Even if the result is obvious, the rare scene depicts the mix of life in the expanding city, wherein domestic animals still serve their traditional purposes, from transportation to recreation. It is not that the animals opt to live in such chaotic environs, but their owners do. Like the donkey’s owner in the picture, there are many people whose livelihoods heavily depend on the sweat and blood of domestic animals. With urbanisation, however, competition is getting unbearable for the latter, as nonliving transportation aids, such as cars, replace these old companions.

There is, indeed, so much to discuss about between Kuma Demekssa (right), mayor of Addis Abeba, and Fekade Haile (bottom left), general manager of the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority, as long as the city witnesses an expansion of its road network. Discussions involve putting things in order, managing projects properly, integrating work, and living up to the expectations of residents. As can be seen in the photo, a cool Kuma seems to be giving orders for the city’s roads man. It all happened after a citywide tour of infrastructure projects held last week came to an end. The tour visited the progress of major infrastructure projects in the city. An entourage of four-wheel drives waits for the talk to end, to get back to action.

One face of the slum redevelopment efforts of the Addis Abeba City Administration is the expansion of the luxury hotel, Sheraton Addis. The long-awaited project progressively nears, with the clearing of the site still ongoing. One remnant of the continued demolishing activity is seen in the picture in contrast with the existing hotel building. While luxury is served in the hotel, the leftovers of the demolished mud house speak of the price paid for the envisioned expansion. The contrast rightly shows the two faces of the rapid growth of the city. A large tract of land off Taitu Street is being cleared for the project.                                               

The government of India is to establish four institutions in Ethiopia as discussed under the India Africa Forum Summits I and II. This was announced at the Second India-Ethiopia Foreign Office Consultants Forum, held on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, in Addis Abeba.

Indians have been involved in various investment activities in Ethiopia. Indian commercial farmers produce basic foodstuffs for consumption and export, with firms like Karaturi already having started work on commercial farms in Gambella Regional State, 721km from Addis Abeba, and in the Bako area of Oromia Regional State, 251km from Addis Abeba.

The Indian government also has agreed to provide 640 million dollars in soft loans to cover the cost of the installation of sugar factories, including Tendaho, while the Ethiopian government agreed to cover the entire cost of the expansion of the farms for the three factories from local financial sources, in 2009.

The meeting, which also covered the next joint commission meeting, which will be held in 2013, was led by Ambassador Gurjit Singh, minister of External Affairs and additional secretary for East and South African countries, and Arega Hailu, minister of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ethiopia director general of the Asia and Oceania Countries Affairs.

Ethiopia became the 36th member of African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) as of Thursday, January 25, 2012.

ACBF’s presence in Ethiopia was initiated through the flagship Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) which was established in 1999 and Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute (EEPRI) which was established by the Ethiopian Economics Association (EEA) in 2000.

The agreement was signed between Frannie Leautier (Dr.), the executive secretary of ACBF and Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) and the forecoming governor of ACBF.

Established in February 1991 ACFB has been working with EDRI which was modeled after the Korean Development Institute (KDI) in projects centered on capacity building, policy impact and dialogue. It also focused on economic policy management, through economic research, short term training and policy dialogue and advice while working with EEPRI.

Aside from discussing about Ethiopia’s membership and signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the next foundation’s annual board of government meeting will be held in June 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Leikun Brehanu, former president of Awash International Bank (AIB) and his co-defendants, who were granted 50,000 Br bail by the Federal High Court 11th Criminal Bench in September 2011, will linger until February 15, 2012, for their appeal verdict.

Back in August, they were sentenced for misdemeanors in handling letters of credit (LCs) at AIB. They received varying sentence terms and fines by the Arada Giorgis Federal First Instance Court Sixth Criminal Bench.

Leikun was sentenced to one year and three months of prison time and a fine of 10,000 Br. He appealed to the High Court along with Mitiku Abeshu, former special advisor to Leikun, and Cherenet Wagari, former work supervisor, who had also received the same sentence.

Endale Tuni, former loan division administrator, Wengelawit Brehanesellase, former head casher, Tadesse Ashagre and Getahun Alamer, both former branch mangers, and Derege Abebe, former employee, were also sentenced for two years and two months of prison, along with 15,000 Br fines.

Subsequently, each appealed to the Federal High Court, which ordered the Immigration & Nationality Affairs Department (INAD) to restrict their international movement, until the court finalises its verdict.

Although the hearing was adjourned for January 26, the court was not able to provide a verdict due to a shortage of staff to record the hearing. It was also unable to give a verdict prioritising cases of defendants in custody.

The Star Alliance, which Ethiopian Airlines recently joined, became the first global airline alliance to offer online booking and ticketing to convention delegates as of Tuesday, January 24, 2012, Fortune has learnt.

Ethiopian officially became a member of the Star Alliance on Tuesday, December 13, 2011, after a process to fulfil 86 requirements that started 14 months earlier.

The new booking tool allows organisers to inform delegates of travel options offered by the participating airlines for the selected conventions.

‘‘It is an integral part of our strategy to further enlarge the scope of our online distribution channel,’’ Christopher Korenke, vice president of the Star Alliance, said, explaining the importance of the new modus operandi.

Ethiopian Airlines, established in 1946, brought around 20 unique destinations on the continent to the alliance. Its entry increases the network’s offering to more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 destinations in 189 countries.

Established in 1997, the Star Alliance started the test phase of the tool with selected customers back in October 2011. The new booking system allows convention organisers to direct their participants to the dedicated online booking and ticketing site for all air travel contracted under the Star Alliance’s Convention Plus.

“By now making it available for all conventions plus travel requirements, the Star Alliance further improves its product offer to this market segment,’’ Roswitha Clement, senior manager of conventions and meetings at the Star Alliance, said.

The headline inflation rate, which peaked at 40.6pc in August 2011, has continued its slow decline and stood 39.2pc in November 2011. This figure was 39.8pc in October and 40.1pc in September, according to the Central Statistical Agency (CSA).

The agency attributed the recent decline to the reduction in consumer prices by 0.3pc compared to October. The food inflation also dropped from 51.7pc to 50.3pc in the same period, while inflation for non-food items increased from 23.4pc to 24pc.

The 39.2pc general inflation rate is due to the fact that the general consumer price index (CPI) of 270.2pc, observed in November 2011, was higher than the corresponding 194.1pc observed in November 2010.

The total price index of cereals increased by 64.8pc compared to the same month last year, which significantly contributed to the rise in the indices of food and general consumer prices. But, declines were observed in the prices of maize, sorghum, pulses, spices, vegetables, and fruit.

The World Bank (WB) has introduced a new strategy for Africa titled, “Africa’s future and the WB’s support to it.” This serves to boost African economies in the same manner as those of Asia which took off three decades ago, it stated in a press release.

The three main areas on which the project is focused are competitiveness and employment, vulnerability and resilience, as well as governance and the public sector.

“The strategy is as much a reflection of what we heard from Africa’s people and leaders as it is the thinking of the WB,” according to Shantayanan Devarajan, chief economist for Africa at the bank.

The new strategy reverses the order of importance of the bank’s instruments to support Africa, with the most important aspect becoming partnerships, followed by knowledge and finance, according to the press release.

“We are excited about Africa’s future,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, vice president of the Africa Region for the WB, is quoted as saying in the press release. “We used the opportunity of our new strategy to listen, learn, and define how to better support the continent’s aspirations as it maintains the momentum of economic reforms over the next decade.”

The state owned Weyra Transport SC replaced its old and outdated vehicles and trailers with 50 new ones that have the capacity to handle 45,000 litres of liquid goods each. A ceremony was held on June 21, 2010 for the presentation of the new vehicles.

The vehicles, imported from China, cost the company 75 million Br. Seventy per cent of the financing was covered by a loan from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). The trailers were assembled by Mesfin Industrial Engineering.

The trucks will be assigned to transport oil for Total and OiLibya.

Weyra’s market share has grown from four per cent to seven per cent because of the new trucks, according to Mesfin Tefera, managing director of the company.

Beyene Gebre Meskel, director of the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA); board members; and other officials were present at the inauguration of the vehicles.  

The designated project includes the establishment of surgical device management and provision of phachoemulsification services. On the job training for local staff will also be part and parcel of the project. The project, which will be implemented through the mutual consultation of KOICA and the hospital, is expected to be completed in one year and benefit more than one thousand people per year.

The Revenue and Customs Authority under the Addis Abeba City Administration’s Economic and Finance Bureau managed to collect exactly half of the 5.4 billion Br it targeted for the whole 2009/10, fiscal year during the last seven months.

The 2.7 billion Br revenue collected from tax and non-tax income, including land lease fees, has shown a 49pc increase from what the authority achieved during the same time last year, according to Belay Tafesse, director general of the authority.

Its business process reengineering (BPR), efficient information gathering (collecting finger prints and cash register machines), and law enforcement contributed to achieving the amount gathered.

“But this is not that much satisfactory, considering the potential,” Belay said, also indicating that the rising number of illegal trades in the city has contributed negatively to the number.