The government of the Federal Republic of Germany donated 100 units of mine detectors to the Ethiopia Mine Action Office (EMAO) worth 216,600 euros yesterday at the embassy’s premises.

The detector,the VMH3CS-type Vallon brand, is one of its kind since it can differentiate soil rich in iron from the actual metal which includes land mines.

Germany has been donating mine detectors since 2007 and the latest round of donation makes the 287 units donated thus far worth 623,600 euros. It also provides advanced technical training on the use and maintenance of the equipment.

A 55-minute-long Amharic documentary film, Twilight Revelations, which retells the life and rule of Emperor Haile-Selassie, provoked a debate among viewers when it was shown Wednesday at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies of the Addis Ababa University. Twilight Revelations features old, black-and-white video footages of the life and activities of the Emperor and the story is told in the words of generals, ministers and court officials like Bulcha Demeksa, Fitawrari Amede Lema, Captain Alemayew Abebe and family members who outlived him.

Yemane Demissie, the producer, said his aim was to present the Emperor’s life based on what his contemporaries, who witnessed the Emperor’s life and participated in his government, had reminisced. “I did not want people who read books about the Emperor but those who personally knew him and were part of his administration. And I believe we should not wait for a foreigner to teach us our own history,” he said.

Mr. Zenawi while responding to questions raised by the members of the House of the Peoples Representatives, which approved the 2003 EC federal budget in its regular session said that the new parliament may revise and request for additional budgets for the allocation of budget and mainly intended to reduce poverty.

Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic Development who introduced the plan to local media in his office said, food insecurity at family and national level will be history at the end of the strategic plan period (2011-2015).

At this moment, most of us should atleast forgo our past (our election phobia) and support this Ato Melese’s and Sufian Ahmed poverty eradication & development strategy. Because, country can not be build by envious confrontation and for national electoral process only.

Information is a critical necessity in the efficient running of any business or in making decisions on how and where to invest. However, necessary and timely information as well as analyses of business trends is usually hard to come by in Ethiopia. This has lead Precise Consult International (PCI), a management consulting firm operating in the United States and Ethiopia, to publish the first of its type report on Ethiopian economy to be by compiled by a private company.

Precise Insights (the report), a publication of the research division of PCI, is an analysis on the Ethiopian economy and business environment produced on a quarterly basis, according to the firm. The company is scheduled to produce its maiden report after a week.

“Precise Insights is designed to assess the performance of the Ethiopian economy from the perspective of the business community” says Henok Assefa, managing partner of PCI. “Our mission is to help local, diaspora, and foreign investors to make better informed business decisions. Our analyses show that last year was a bit tough on the private business community. On the other hand, the environment for business appears to be much more positive this year.”

Lifan Motors, a Chinese car assembling company based in Ethiopia, and Ethiopian Village, a beauty pageant organizer which organized the latest Miss Ethiopia beauty pageant, are at loggerheads after a failed agreement between them relating to the beauty contest held at the Addis Ababa Hilton on July 24. The two parties had earlier agreed to cooperate, with Lifan sponsoring the beauty contest and Ethiopian Village promoting Lifan based on a certain set of criteria and requirements.

The two parties finally broke up, with one accusing the other of breaking the provisions of the very agreement they entered to.

Though Ethiopian Village claimed that Lifan had pledged to provide one vehicle it assembles for free as a prize to the winner of the beauty contest, Lifan refated this and said that it had only agreed to provide a discount for the same purpose.

Two vehicles assigned to two department heads of the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise were stolen from the compound of the enterprise last Friday. The vehicles were stolen around 4:30 pm from the premises of the enterprise which is under a 24-hour guard. The compound is also within sight of security personnel who guard the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.

Although it has been over a week now since the cars were stolen, there has been no trace of them despite a nationwide hunt by the police, a security official told The Reporter on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to talk to the press.

Ethiopia is trying to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the global initiative launched by Tony Blair in 2002. EITI advocates the disclosure of revenues earned by mining companies and governments from mining businesses.Member countries are obliged to reveal the amount of royalty income tax, and land lease they collected from each mining company. Mining companies are also required to publish the amount of revenue and profit they earned and all the fees they paid in the form of royalty, income tax and lease payments. Both governments and mining companies have to disclose relevant information to the media.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy last year launched the initiative. Hunde Meleka, head of the EITI’s implementation committee, told The Reporter that the ministry, which is firmly committed to implementing the initiative, has established a national steering committee. The committee has 17 memebers - 5 from the government, 5 from civil society, 5 from mining companies operating in Ethiopia, and two from others. “The initiative forces both governments and companies to be more transparent and the Ethiopian government has a firm commitment to join the initiative,” Hunde said.

Sudan Petroleum Corporation, the Sudanese oil producing giant which currently provides slightly over 80 percent of Ethiopia’s benzene consumption, is set to become the sole supplier of the commodity to Ethiopia. The state-owned oil company will as of next month start providing 100 percent of Ethiopia’s benzene consumption, following an agreement made earlier on between the two governments, Yigzaw Mekonnen, the CEO of the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise, told The Reporter.

Ethiopia has been importing about 20 percent of its benzene consumption mainly from the Middle East via the Port of Djibouti (before Sudan Petroleum Corporation started supplying the balance five years ago). And the suppliers from the Middle East are big time corporations that make huge profits from the supply. But with the Sudan, the trade entertains a preferential treatment. This makes the benzene that comes from Sudan significantly cheaper.....

Bahrain's Gulf Air has announced plans to launch new routes to Ethiopia, Iraq and Iran, to be rolled out later this year.

Following the recent announcement that it would start services to Aden and Colombo, the carrier said it would add Addis Ababa, Basra and Isfahan to its network.

Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali services to Isfahan would begin on October 30 with three weekly flights while the Basra route would start operations the following day. Addis Ababa will be served from December 6 with five weekly flights.

"The launching of these five new destinations further demonstrates our new strategy to identify and serve niche and under-served markets and, create potentially high yield city-pairs by providing direct service to Bahrain and beyond," said Majali.

The Chinese government has granted scholarship for some 41 Ethiopian students. China's scholarship grants to Ethiopia have now reached 40 to 50 scholarships per year. Over the past years, more than 300 Ethiopian students have benefited from such scholarships.

The students who were granted scholarship to pursue their education in renowned Chinese higher education institutions received their university entrance certificates this week at a ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Addis Ababa.

The students who are scheduled to fly to China next month, will pursue their undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral study in fields such as civil engineering, architecture and business management.

During the certificate awarding ceremony, the Embassy’s Cultural Counselor Song Yanqun said that it is a significant step taken by the Chinese government to honor its commitments made at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

It's easy to take the Either/Orchestra for granted. The Boston 10-piece has been around for 25 years, putting out consistently excellent albums on its own Accurate imprint. But it's not an easy slog being in a band this size – it takes patience as well as a flair for scheduling, not to mention some creative accounting to keep the whole thing viable. It also takes a unique individual who is willing to play group parts, perhaps taking a solo only once or twice a night.

Because of these challenges, large outfits tend to have a bit of attrition, and E/O is no different, having such now-established players as drummer Matt Wilson and keyboardist John Medeski (of Medeski Martin and Wood) pass through the band before moving on to lead groups of their own. One thing that stays consistent is the steady leadership of saxophonist Russ Gershon.

"I think it would be hard to maintain a band like this in New York," Gershon points out. "There are too many opportunities for players of this talent down there. In Boston, there are fewer great gigs, so it's easier for me to keep a steady cast. Our band tends to be half people that have a family here and half people who are in school or just out who eventually plan to go to New York, but that's fine. It's kind of nice to have some turnover. It keeps things fresh."

Ethiopian Purchases 10 Pilot Training Jets and a Simulator - 06 August, 2010

Ethiopian Airlines is pleased to announce that it has signed a purchase agreement with Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH of Austria for ten DA40NG pilot training aircraft and one D-SIM-40 stimulator. The aircraft will be equipped with the new Austro Engine AE300 power plant.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mr. Girma Wake and Diamond Aircraft Industries' CEO Mr. Christian Dries signed the agreement on July 29, 2010. The total cost of the aircraft and simulator are valued at 3.7 million Euros at list price. The aircraft will be delivered in eight months time from the date of the agreement and the first four aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in November 2010.

According to the CEO Mr. Girma the decision to purchase the equipment was based on the airlines mission statement and core values to provide the highest training standards by investing on world class training equipments. He added, "The recent order will enable us to maintain our on-going training to the highest international level for our cadet flight crews."

Addis Ababa, August 6, 2010 (Addis Ababa) - The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) said the five year national growth and transformation plan would enable the nation to double the agricultural produces and the general economic growth by registering 14.9 percent growth on average.
In a press conference he gave here on Thursday the MoFED minister Sufian Ahmed said the five year plan would sustain the double digit growth of nation registered over the past five years on average.

He said the plan would facilitate for the industry sector to take the lead in the over all development activities in the country.

Sufian said the plan aims at expanding and ensuring quality health and education services towards meeting MDGs targets in the sectors.

The minister said the plan has also targeted to register fast and sustainable economic growth in which the industry sector would play significant role.