Ethiopia plans to commission four Chinese built Industrial Parks by the end of 2018.

Speaking to local and foreign media, Belachew Mekuria, Commissioner of Ethiopia Investment Commission (EIC), said Jimma Industrial Park, Adama industrial Park, Dire Dawa Industrial Park and Arerti Industrial Park are expected to be commissioned before the end of 2018.

Jimma and Arerti Industrial Parks are being constructed by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) while Dire Dawa and Adama Industrial Parks are being constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

Despite limited availability of foreign currency, insufficient provision of social services and instability that affected parts of Ethiopia since 2016, the construction of Chinese built industrial parks have been mainly going according to plan.

Arerti Industrial Park will be special, as it will produce building materials and ceramics once commissioned by November, while Adama Industrial Park has already attracted an investment of 1 billion U.S. dollars for a sheep woollen factory which will be built once the industrial park is commissioned.

EIC also plans to start construction for Ayisha Industrial Park in the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2018/19, located near the Djibouti port in part to ease logistics cost for goods being transported from landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti port for exports.

“We’re encouraging companies like CCCC and CCECC to build their own manufacturing focused industrial parks to achieve our goals of having 30 industrial parks by 2025 and creating job opportunities for 200,000 people annually,” said Mekuria.

Ethiopia also plans to increase the manufacturing share of the country’s GDP from the current 5 percent to 20 percent by 2025, as part of plans to become an industrialized middle income economy by 2025.

Source: Xinhua

Former Ethiopian Somali regional state police commissioner Ferhan Tahir was arrested and appeared in court on 29 August.

He was arrested on suspicion of committing crimes and having links in damages caused in the regional state, which include deaths and injuries of people by arming a youth team organized in the name “Hego.”

In a related development, the federal high court 19th criminal bench denied bail for the former Chief Administrator of the Ethiopian Somali regional state, Abdi Mohammed Omer.

The bench gave police additional 14 days to conduct further investigation.

The hearing was adjourned to September 14, 2018.

Ethiopia has attracted more than 3.7 billion USD Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) during the concluded fiscal year, according to the Investment Commission (EIC).

In a press conference he gave on 28 August, Dr Belachew Mekuria, EIC Commissioner, said the nation has managed to lure the stated amount of FDI, despite the multi-faceted challenges the country has faced over the year.

According to Belachew, the performance is low compared to the plan, which was to attract investment worth of 4.6 billion USD due to some challenges that the nation has faced.

Lack of foreign currency and unrest observed in some parts of the country has negatively contributed to the reduction of the FDI inflow, he stated.

According to the Commissioner, China, India and Turkey are the leading countries whose investors engaged in various investment areas during the stated time.

Through the efforts exerted to stabilize the situation, the government has managed to maintain existing investments and simultaneously managed to attract new companies into the country, he noted.

The commission has also issued investment licenses to 275 foreign projects with a combined capital of over 5 billion USD in during the stated time, he added.

Ethiopia’s investment has created job opportunities for 133, 000 citizens over the year in the newly built industrial parks and some other investment ventures, it was indicated.

The Horn of African country has given due attention to industrial development and attract more foreign direct investment to realise development.

The development of industrial parks across the country in addition to incentives and the conducive business environment is helping the nation to attract more investment.

Ethiopia is working to realise its ambition of becoming an industrial hub in the region and structural transformation by scaling up the performance of the manufacturing sector.

The recent reforms to partially privatise major public enterprises could be taken as a significant step forward to realise its ambitious target.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has instituted a project office to oversee the implementation of an agreement with former rebel groups.

Its creation was necessary after the government reached an agreement with main opposition parties.

The agreement covers disarmament, demobilization & reintegration of former fighters. PM Abiy appointed Tesfaye Yegezu to lead the Project Office (under the PM’s Office) tasked to coordinate this effort.

Since his coming into office in April 2018, Abiy has led a multi-sectoral reform of Ethiopia’s government machinery. Key planks of the reforms have included unbanning armed rebel groups as terrorist organisations.

The government has since held peace talks with a number of these formerly banned groups. The most recent being government’s peace deal with the Tigray Peoples Democratic Movement, TPDM.

The Eritrean government hosted the talks in Asmara. Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed in July 2018 to make peace after decades of being on a war footing with one another. Eritrea has since undertaken efforts to help ex-rebel groups it hosted to return to Ethiopia.

Chancellor Angela Merkel officially invited Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to visit Germany. The invitation came during a telephonic conversation the two leaders had on 28 August.

The German Chancellor congratulated the Premier in bringing promising results in the ongoing economic and political reforms.

She also commended the recently reached peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Abiy welcomed the official invitation of the Chancellor to visit Germany.

Former President of Ethio-Somali Regional State Abdi Mohammed Oumer was arrested on Monday 27 August on suspicion of gross violations of human rights, inciting ethnic and religious conflicts and atrocities.  

 According to the Federal Attorney General, the Federal Police has been arresting other individuals who have participated in similar atrocious activities.

The Ethio-Somali Regional State Council lifted amnesty from prosecution of seven members of the council including the former president Abdi Mohamed Umer who is accused of inciting the recent turmoil in the region.

In an extraordinary session, the Council of Ethiopian Somali regional state stripped immunity of seven of its members on suspicion of their links with the recent violence in the regional state.

Below the is list of members of the Council who lost their immunity:

1. Abdi Mohamed Omer –Former Chief Administrator of Ethiopian Somali regional state

2. Abdijemal Kelonbi- Head of Justice Bureau

3. Rahma Mohammed – Head of Women’s and Children’s Bureau

4. Ibrahim Mehd- Head of Education Bureau

5. Dek Abdulahi –Deputy Head of Water Resource Development Bureau

6. Ibrahim Mohammed Mubarek – Mayor of Jigjiga

7. Omer Abdi – Political Affairs Head of the Ethiopian Somali People Democratic Party (ESPDP)

Ethiopia and Germany signed a grant agreement amounting to 100 million Euros.

Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, Dr Abrham Tekeste, and Gerd Muller, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany,  signed the agreement in Addis Ababa.

During the meeting, the two sides also signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on the special initiative on training and job creation.

According to the agreement, the government of Germany expresses its intent to support the training and job creation programme of Ethiopia financially and technically.

The main purpose of the Joint Declaration of Intent is to complement the Government of Ethiopia’s effort in relation with creating more job opportunities to its citizens.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a three-day state visit.

Upon arrival at the Bole International Airport, President Quang was warmly welcomed by the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Dr Mulatu Teshome and government officials.

During his visit, President Quang will also meet Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed and other senior government officials.