The Ethiopian Investment Commission announced that the country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) jumped up by 35 percent on average over last six months compared to same period last year.

During the current fiscal year, which has started last June, the country is able to attract FDI valued to 1.2 billion dollar hugely surpassing the record gained during the beginning of the first Growth and Transformation Plan (GTPI) and that of same period the previous year.

Commission Public Relation Head Mekonnen Hailu told Walta Infromation Center that the rise in the flow FDI is owing to the expansion of multi-million dollar industrial parks in different parts of the country.

According to him, giant companies from Europe, America and Asia coming into the country over the last six months.

He said that three Chinse manufacturing industries and two Indian companies, which took shades at Hawassa Industrial Park, are few of the foreign companies coming in six months period and boosted volume of FDI. Among three Chinese companies, according to him, Giangsu Sunshine Group is decided to invest 945 million dollars in the country.

He also said that infrastructure and power supply, peace and cheap labor help the country increase the flow of FDI.

The rise in the investment flow in the country is also meant absorbing significant number of unemployed segment of the population, which is one of the top priorities of the government.

Source: http://www.waltainfo.com/news/business/detail?cid=27824

On 20-21 February, Foreign Minister Dr. Workneh visited Brussels and held meetings with the Belgian Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, and various EU officials. The Minister met with Mr. Reynders on Tuesday and discussed bilateral relations. They agreed on the need to further strengthen cooperation as their capitals were seats of their respective regional organizations, the African Union and the European Union.

Ethiopia is one of the EU’s most important partners on the African continent, active in regional peace and security as well as in thematic international debates such as climate change. Against this background, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu held talks with Mr. Stefano Manservisi, Director-General DEVCO, on further supporting the efforts of Ethiopia to eradicate poverty, and foster inclusive and sustainable economic, social and environmental development through programmable development aid from the European Development Fund,  as well as non-programmable development aid, projects funded by the EU Trust Fund, humanitarian assistance and concessional loans from the European Investment Bank. EU support to Ethiopia for the period 2015-2020 will exceed € 2 billion and rests on these five pillars. The two sides also looked at ways of maximizing the social and economic impact of development cooperation while ensuring sustainability, including improved alignment of EU donors with the Growth and Transformation Plan II and Ethiopia’s Climate-Resilient Green Economy Strategy.

Ethiopia, one of the countries most affected by the El Niño phenomenon, is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years following three failed rainy seasons. More than 5 million people are in need of emergency assistance and millions more across the continent are affected by the extreme weather conditions. Dr. Workneh thanked the EU Director General for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Ms. Monique Pariat, for earmarking 27.5 million Euros for emergency assistance in 2017. He called on the agency to support the region as the drought is intensifying.

Dr. Workneh met with Mr. Jean-Christoph Belliard, Political Affairs Director at EEAS and Ambassadors of the 28 EU member states. He briefed them on the current political situation and reform measures taken by the government to enhance its peace, development and democratization agenda. Ethiopia and the EU, he noted, share a vision for a peaceful, safe and stable Horn of Africa, a precondition for the political, economic and social development of the region as a whole. Given Ethiopia’s crucial stabilizing role in the Horn of Africa, the EU and Ethiopia share information, perspectives and lessons learned, and consult each other on issues of common interest. These include conflict prevention and resolution in the Horn of Africa and the broader region, the role of IGAD, the African Peace and Security Architecture and the African Peace Facility. They intend to enhance their cooperation to maintain the dynamic economic growth and ambition of Ethiopia to join middle income countries on the basis of its green and inclusive economic growth.

Foreign Minister Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu met with Dr. Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary-General of the ACP during his stay in Brussels and discussed the evolving role of the secretariat in regard to its relationship with the EU and also the global dynamic situation. The Minister assured the Secretary-General of Ethiopia’s readiness to assist the continued efforts of the secretariat to sustain the development of member states from Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific regions.

Dr. Workneh also met with the Ethiopian Ambassadors accredited to European states and discussed current issues in Ethiopia and the region. He briefed the Ambassadors on the reforms being undertaken in the country to strengthen good governance and institutional capacity issues and measures taken to enhance the business and investment climate. The discussion also focused on ways to transform the Foreign Ministry to effectively address the regional and global challenges that it faces and to meet the strategic goals put forward to achieve a middle income economy by the end of the next decade. The meeting agreed on the need to actively use all instruments of diplomacy and reform to help meet the expectations of the government and people of Ethiopia.

The relations between the EU and Ethiopia are founded on the Cotonou Agreement and have 40 years of constructive bilateral relations in areas as diverse as development cooperation, trade and economic development, consolidation of democratic institutions, regional peace and security and migration.

Source: A Week in the Horn

Boortmalt, a subsidiary of the French group Axéréal, said it will extend its malt factory in Antwerp, Belgium, and invest in a new malt factory in Ethiopia.

The factory in Antwerp will become the world’s largest malt production facility, with a yearly capacity of 470,000 tons.

According to the press release, the new malt factory in Ethiopia will have a total production capacity of 60,000 tons.

It is expected to start operations in 2018.

Boortmalt is currently producing 1.1 million tons of malt in Europe.

Finland Ambassador to Ethiopia Helena Airaksinen said that Ethiopia has made good progress in terms of economic development.”Finland is also keen on expanding economic cooperation with Ethiopia.”

In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Amb. Helena Airaksinen said Finland and Ethiopia have been working together in rural economic development particularly in Amhara state focusing on inland administration, agricultural value chain production improvement programs and the like.

According to her, the rural economic development programs are aimed at improving rural farmers’ productivity and income.

Remarking on various cooperative programs in Ethiopia including the education cooperation, Airaksinen said : “The clean water program benefits millions of people in the country as it has enabled them to access clean water easily and so we are glad for such success story.”

Moreover, she lauded the Ethiopian government and the local authorities for their commitment towards the cooperative programs.

Regarding the ongoing efforts to reduce poverty rate in Ethiopia, she said Finnish government is pleased to the so far remarkable achievements gained in this regard.

Source: The Ethiopian Herald

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu met his Belgian counterpart, Mr. Didier Reynders on Tuesday (February 21, 2017) in Brussels, and discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries and agreed to further strengthen their cooperation as seats of their respective regional organizations – the African Union and the European Union.

Ethiopia and Italy struck a soft-loan agreement with the latter providing 5 million euro to the infrastructural development of Ethiopian health sector here yesterday.

The agreement was signed by Finance and Economic Cooperation State Minister Admasu Nebebe and Giuseppe Mistretta, Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Admasu said Ethiopia and Italy enjoy a long standing ties and Italy’s tremendous financial contribution to the development endeavours in Ethiopia has been exemplary for many years.

The loan agreement is well aligned with Ethiopia’s priority and will help promote the health sector. The accord has an added value for addressing the challenges facing the health sector in terms of infrastructural facilities, said Admasu.

Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Mistretta for his part said that the loan would be used to promote the infrastructural facilities of the health sector.

Italy has planned to provide Ethiopia about 125 million euro as per its three year scheme that would be used to cater to the development of Ethiopian people, he added.

The two-year project will be implemented in Amhara and SNNP states as well as in Addis Ababa.

BY DESTA GEBREHIWOT

Human Rights Watch published an article this week, repeating its claims that the Gilgel Gibe III Dam and the ongoing plantations along the Omo River Valley were negatively affecting the water levels of Lake Turkana. HRW alleges that the Gilgel Gibe III hydropower dam has resulted in Lake Turkana’s water levels by approximately 1.5 m since January 2015. It goes on to speculate, without any evidence that further reductions are likely, and it then claims that the further drop in lake levels that it predicts will seriously affect food supplies in the area.

In order to support these allegations, it tried to cite but inaccurately a publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to the article, Lake Turkana’s water levels have dropped by approximately 1.5 meters since January 2015, and professed that further reduction is likely without urgent efforts to mitigate the impact of Ethiopia’s actions.

Foreign Minister Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu held talks with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice- President of the European Commission, Ms. Federica Mogherini on 18 February 2017 on the margins of the 53rd Munich security conference, now underway in Munich, Germany.

The two sides discussed on issues of regional peace and security and migration, as well as the positive steps the Government of Ethiopia has taken in the pursuit of addressing popular public demands.

Ms. Mogherini congratulated Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu for taking office as Foreign Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. She also said the EU is keen to continue its constructive engagement with Ethiopia. 

Dr. Workneh thanked the High Representative for her good wishes and briefed her on the situation in Ethiopia and region. On Somalia, the Minister emphasized the positive and encouraging trend of state building in Somalia as concluded by the election of the president. Ethiopia and IGAD countries view this development as a chance to further engage with Somalia in its effort to build peace and security and support the national institution building efforts. Ethiopia is confident of EU’s continued support in the region, he added.

During an interview on the 14th of February 2017, Mr. Karel Claes explained why Ethiopia is currently the best destination for investments in Africa.

Reasons of this attractiveness include fast growth of the economy, development of the infrastructure, stability of the government and quality of the country’s rules and regulations.

According to him, business and investments from European investors should be intensified in several sectors of the Ethiopian economy.

Moreover, Mr. Claes said Ethiopia’s tourism potential is still underestimated in Europe.

Mr. Karel Claes is a Belgian entrepreneur, former General Manager of Médecins Sans Frontières, co-author of the book Bestemming Ethiopia (Destination Ethiopia) and active in the network Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs (Ondernemers voor Ondernemers)