Abate Kisho, former President of the Southern Regional State, in an interview with Addis Zemen, the Amharic daily, stated that the veteran parties, TPLF and ANDM, used to exert undue influence on the latecomers, SEPDM and OPDO, in the ruling coalition, EPRDF.
Month: October 2019
Germany Grants 74.3m Euros in Cooperation Agreement
State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation Admasu Nebebe and Brita Wagner, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ethiopia, signed a 74.3-million-euro financial and technical support agreement on October 23, 2019.
The technical agreement will finance three projects with a total of 28 million euros, and the projects are going to be implemented through the technical arm of the German Development Cooperation Agency, GIZ. The projects will focus on special initiatives on “Training and Job Creation” including small and medium enterprise promotion, social and economic reintegration of refugees and returnees, and rehabilitation of those affected by conflicts in the country.
The financial agreement accounting for 46.5 million euros will support two other projects, and they are going to be implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the allocation of ten million euros. Separately, Germany pledged to fund 100 million euros to support the ongoing reform in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia Signs $4.3m Agreement with Sweden
The Kingdom of Sweden is supporting the national election of Ethiopia with 4.3 million dollars that will be used for the programme entitled “Supporting Elections for Ethiopia’s Democracy Strengthening Project,” which is going to be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme between 2019-2022.
The project aims at strengthening such democratic and oversight institutions as the House of Peoples’ Representatives, National Election Board of Ethiopia and the Office of the Federal Auditor General to enable them to perform core functions for improved accountability, participation and representation to realise democratic elections and gender equality in the country.
The agreement was signed on October 21, 2019, between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the government of Sweden at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Finance.
Ireland Endows PSNP with 10m
Ethiopia signed a grant agreement for 10 million euros with Ireland to be used for the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP).
The agreement was signed at the Ministry of Finance on Friday, November 25, 2019, by State Minister of Finance Admasu Nebebe and Patrick McManus, cooperation head of the government of Ireland.
The financing agreement is aimed at enhancing and improving vulnerable and food insecure households’ livelihoods, resilience to shocks, food security and nutrition.
PSNP 4 contributes to the government of Ethiopia’s national policies, including the social protection policy, the national nutrition program, climate resilience, green economy plan and disaster risk management policy.
The PSNP 4 programme runs from 2015 to 2020 and today’s signed agreement is for the year 2019/2020. The programmes have been developed since 2004 through an intensive collaboration process between Ethiopia and the joint donor group, including Irish Aid.
In 2005, Ethiopia began implementing the programme by targeting people in food-insecure weredas of Amhara, Tigray, Oromia, and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ regional states.
Germany Grants 74.3m Euros in Cooperation Agreement
State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation Admasu Nebebe and Brita Wagner, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ethiopia, signed a 74.3-million-euro financial and technical support agreement on October 23, 2019.
The technical agreement will finance three projects with a total of 28 million euros, and the projects are going to be implemented through the technical arm of the German Development Cooperation Agency, GIZ. The projects will focus on special initiatives on “Training and Job Creation” including small and medium enterprise promotion, social and economic reintegration of refugees and returnees, and rehabilitation of those affected by conflicts in the country.
The financial agreement accounting for 46.5 million euros will support two other projects, and they are going to be implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the allocation of ten million euros. Separately, Germany pledged to fund 100 million euros to support the ongoing reform in Ethiopia.
LOGS
A big yard in the Jemmo area is filled up with logs for sale. Business is brisk for the youth in the area who are keeping busy supplying the insatiable need of the ever-expanding city. Despite recent efforts at reforestation, the huge demand for wood from the construction sector is a cause for deforestation.
BAG TIME
Young street hawkers in Addis Abeba seem to pick different items for different times of the season. Who makes or coordinates this decision? And how come they all seem to carry the same items? No one knows for sure, but backpacks are the pick of the week.
UNITY IS POWER
Tadele Yemer, Ethiopian Industrial Employers Confederation president, Ergoge Tesfaye (PhD), minister of Labour & Social Affairs, and Kassahun Follo, president of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Union, attended the Union’s 18th general assembly held on October 23, 2019, at Oromia Cultural Centre in Addis Abeba.
Nation Completes Megech Seraba Irrigation Project
Megech Seraba Irrigation Project, which was built for 1.3 billion Br, was inaugurated last week in Gonder, Amhara Regional State.
Sileshi Bekele (PhD), minister of Water, Irrigation & Energy, and Temesgen Tirunh, head of the Amhara Regional State, attended the inauguration ceremony.
Expected to benefit 30,000 household farmers, the irrigation dam has a capacity of developing 4,000ha of land.
The 1.8-billion-cubic-metre irrigation dam took seven years to complete.
The government, which has endeavored to reduce the cost of mega-projects for the past two years, has allocated close to 15 billion Br this fiscal year for the construction of irrigation dams with the main target of increasing agricultural productivity at a national level.
Most of the irrigation dams in the country are known for delays and cost overruns. Beginning this year, the Office of the Auditor-General confronted the Ministry over the inflated costs of the Zarema Mayday and Megech irrigation dams, which have reached a combined total of 13.6 billion Br from the initial estimation of 6.7 billion Br.
Nation Generates $110 million from Industrial Parks
The nation generated 110 million dollars from industrial parks in the last fiscal year. For this fiscal year, the nation plans to increase the revenues gained from exported products by 50pc.
The country gets 400 million dollars from the World Bank to operate the industrial parks, said Amare Asgedom, Deputy CEO of Industrial Parks Development Corporation. In the coming 10 years the number of industrial parks will reach 100, he added.
The most recent industrial park, Debre Birhan Industrial Park, was built on a total of 1,100 hectares of land with eight production sheds and inaugurated in March 2019.
The Park, which was built at a cost of more than 75 million dollars, will create job opportunities for about 1,000 Ethiopians.
So far, the government has completed the construction of seven parks, while Hawassa, Bole Lemi I, Kombolcha, Meqelle and Adama industrial parks are already operational.
Ethiopian to Resume Flight to Athens after 18 Years
Ethiopian Airlines, the national air carrier, announced the resumption of its flights to Athens, Greece, effective December 13, 2019, after 18 years.
Athens marks Ethiopian’s 20th destination in Europe. The ultra-modern B787 Dreamliner will operate the thrice-weekly flight to Athens.
“With our direct flight, Greece will be closer to Africa than ever before and to the rest of our global network,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines.
The resumption of the service to Athens will help meet the exponential demand from global tourists, as well as provide them with more connectivity options within Ethiopia’s extensive global network, the airline stated.
Ethiopian Airlines’ profit increased by 19pc to 232 million dollars in the 2017/18 fiscal year, and the airline transported 340,000tn through its cargo services. Ethiopian Airlines has more than 100 international destinations, 19 domestic routes and 39 freighters.
IFRC Secretary General Delivered Speech
The Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Elhadj As Sy, made a three-day visit to Ethiopia. He had a meeting with the Ethiopian Head of State and Patron of the Society, President Sahle-Work Zewde, and Ambassador Mahlet Hailu, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They discussed the overall activities and partnership of the Federation in Ethiopia.
In a joint press briefing held at the Addis Abeba Hilton hotel on Wednesday, October 23, 2019, Elhadj As Sy and Meshesha Shewarega (PhD), secretary-general of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, said the secretary-general also visited the place where the Ethiopian Airline’s plane crashed in March 2019 claiming the lives of 157 passengers including a member of the Federation. In addition, he inaugurated two water projects in the Oromia region, and one of these projects is expected to provide service to about 150 families.
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