Finally, the Council is expected to pass decisions and put forth directions after deliberating on organizational activities and challenges.

Deputy director general of the office, Tagel Kenubh, said his office planned to sell bonds worth more than 120 million birr in the bond week, which will continue until March 26, 2018.  More than 200 temporary sites were established across the nation to sell bonds, including 92 sites in all sub-cities of Addis Ababa.

The minimum bond value is 50 birr and the maximum 1 million birr. There is no limit on the maximum amount one wants to buy. According to data obtained from the office, more than 100 million birr was raised last Ethiopian year in the GERD bond week.

The construction of GERD is fully funded by the people and government of Ethiopia.

Ethiopians at home and abroad have so far raised over 10.9 billion birr for the construction of Africa’s largest dam once completed. It is now more than 64 percent complete.

The 7th anniversary of the start of construction on the dam was celebrated recently.

Foreign and water ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt will attend the meeting that had been scheduled for last February but postponed for next month, said the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity of Ethiopia.

The meeting is expected to discuss on studies regarding the impact of the dam on the downstream countries.

In a meeting held last January on the sidelines of the African Union (AU) summit here in Addis Ababa, leaders of the three countries agreed to continue their cooperation on the dam with a spirit of togetherness.

During the meeting, they also agreed foreign and water ministers of the three countries to look into issues raised regarding the dam and conduct a study within a month so as to address the issues.

They have also agreed to form a trilateral leaders summit to be held annually and to establish a joint infrastructure fund.

The fund will focus on railway and road connectivity as well as projects that enhance trade and business between the three countries.

With installed generating capacity of 6,450 MW, GERD will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa as well as the 7th largest in the world once completed.

The region, with thirteen countries, recorded the continent’s best economic performance with a GDP growth rate of 5.9% in 2017 −a rate much higher than the growth recorded by the other regions of the continent, and above the continental average of 3.6%.

The good performance of the East African sub-region was stimulated by six countries: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Djibouti, Rwanda, Seychelles and Kenya.

The outlook remains positive for 2018 and 2019, with growth expected to continue, reaching 5.9% in 2018 and 6.2% in 2019.

North Africa ended 2017 with a growth of 4.9% of real GDP, South Africa at 1.6%, West Africa at 0.5% and Central Africa at 0.9%, according to the report.

The African Economic Outlook provides short-to-medium term forecasts on the evolution of key macroeconomic indicators for all 54 regional member countries, as well as analysis on the state of socio-economic challenges and progress made in each country.

Ethiopia is among the countries that are contributing to this progress. It has cut child marriages by a third, over the past 10 years. Before 2008, 2 in every 5 girls in Ethiopia were forced into marriage before the legal age of 18.

A new report by the United Nations Children Education Fund, however, shows a downward trend in the last ten years.

“Ethiopia I think is the country with the only national coordinating unit on harmful practices that brings together all the key stakeholders including from UN agencies, the government ministries, NGOs , researchers to come together and discuss and deliberate about what is working , what needs to be done better ,” Karin Heissler, UNICEF’s chief child protection officer said.

“And at the moment the group is working on a roadmap in terms of what are the investments needed between now and 2025 to end these practices,” she added.

Winning the battle against child marriage is bound to take time, because of barriers including poverty, lack of education and cultural traditions in parts of the country.

“We can help target the investments to those interventions that can reach the largest numbers of girls and including in some of the most populated areas but of course also some of the areas where girls may be more remote they are rural, it’s harder to get services to them because I think the key thing for us is we don’t want to live them behind either,” Heissler said.

National statistics show that median age for girls getting married is 16, but many fall victim before that.

Alula Pankhurst who has been researching and working closely with the Ministry of Women and Children affairs in Ethiopia says more concentration needs to be given to pre-teen marriages that occur because children don’t have a say.

“We need to improve the opportunities for girls not just in education but also in training work. We need to be able to provide childcare for those who have already got married and had children and we need to work with girls themselves so that they can stand up to these practices and we need to work with boys and young men and fathers we know that when fathers take a stance, that is even more important than mothers taking a stance,” Pankhurst said.

The government is also planning to use religious leaders to try and help change cultural expectations around child marriage.

The government is setting up projects in hot spot regions with the aim of creating economic empowerment and more educational opportunities, for women and girls.

It’s hoped this will encourage them to take time while deciding for themselves when they are mature enough to be married.

The Committee has so far reviewed in detail reports of three parties, and the remaining party will present its report today.

After completing deliberation on all reports, the Executive committee will evaluate performances of the taskforces established at the end of the December meeting. It will also draft an agenda which will be tabled for the Council of EPRDF for discussion.

The Council will meet in the middle of next week and review the evaluation reports. After that, it will fill the leadership gap.

During his stay in Ethiopia, the Secretary of State met with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Workneh Gebeyehu on 8 March.