International car manufacturer Volkswagen has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Ethiopia to collaborate and deliver a joint vision for the development of an automotive industry in the country.

The MoU was signed by Thomas Schaefer, Head of the Volkswagen Sub-Sahara Africa Region and Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Abebe Abebayehu in the presence of the Ethiopian Minister for Finance and Economic Cooperation, Ahmed Shide and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, who is on a state visit to Ethiopia.

The signing of the MoU paves the way for Volkswagen and the Ethiopian Government to commence high-level and technical collaboration which is integral to the development of an automotive industry and policy framework.

Volkswagen will focus on four key pillars: the establishment of a vehicle assembly facility, localization of automotive components, introduction of mobility concepts such as app-based car sharing and ride-hailing as well as the opening of a training center.

As such, Volkswagen will work closely with the Ethiopian higher education and training institutions for skills development and capacity building of local talent.

Volkswagen is taking the fast development of the country into account. Over the last ten years, the GDP growth rate in Ethiopia was above 8 percent – one of the highest worldwide. Moreover, Ethiopia is a priority and focus country for Germany under the G20-“Compact with Africa” initiative.

Schaefer commented: “As one of the fastest growing economies and with the second highest population in the continent, Ethiopia is an ideal country to advance our Sub-Saharan Africa development strategy.

Ethiopia becomes the third country in Sub-Saharan Africa to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Volkswagen. It follows Ghana and Nigeria, which both signed MoUs with Volkswagen in August 2018.

Volkswagen has been manufacturing vehicles in South Africa since 1951. In Africa, Volkswagen also has vehicle assembly operations in Algeria, Kenya, and Rwanda.

Under its TRANSFORM 2025+ brand strategy, Volkswagen is strengthening the regions and focusing on new up-and-coming markets. The Sub-Saharan Africa region plays an increasingly important role.

Although the African automotive market is comparatively small today, the region has a bright look-out to develop into an automotive growth market of the future.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially inaugurated the newly expanded Addis Ababa Bole International Airport terminal this Sunday 27 January. The expansion, which began in 2015, will triple the annual passenger capacity to 22 million, making it the biggest airport aviation hub in Africa.

The newly expanded airport terminal has been refurbished with state-of-the-art amenities and high-tech systems, including automated bag drop solutions, e-gates, self-check-in kiosks, baggage handling, and the latest airport security technologies.

With its new duty-free shops, restaurants, auto-walks, escalators, panoramic lifts and many other accommodations, the new facility will take travelers’ experience to a whole new level.

Ethiopian Airlines Group indicated that the airport facility is developed not only to accommodate the current traffic growth at the airport but in due consideration of the growth indicators of the continent including traffic growth forecast and the rising middle class.

Addis Ababa last year overtook Dubai as the leading gateway to Africa. The country also announced that it would start granting visas on arrival to people from Africa. The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

PM Abiy also launched the Skylight hotel, a subsidiary of Ethiopian Airlines.
The five-star luxury hotel complex located five minutes from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport rests on 40, 000 square meter and has 373 rooms, including 27 presidential and executive suites, four restaurants and a conference and banquet hall that can hold 2, 000 people.

In addition to promoting Ethiopian tourism, the hotel will also welcome passengers during transits, stopovers or technical delays.

Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Brussels, the seat of the European Union, on Wednesday evening, where he was scheduled to hold meetings with top officials of the continental bloc.

On Thursday 24 January, during his first visit to the EU institutions, the Prime Minister met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, as well as Council President, Donald Tusk.

Ethiopia and European Union (EU) signed a € 130 million cooperation package following PM Abiy Ahmed’s meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker.

The three new programmes signed yesterday are part of theimplementation of the ‘Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs’, which aims to deepen the economic and trade relations between the two continents, to create sustainable jobs and growth. These financing agreements between the EU and Ethiopia support job creation (€50 million), sustainable energy (€35 million) and the establishment of agro-industrial parks in Ethiopia (€45 million)

During a lunch meeting with HR/VP Mogherini, PM Abiy appreciated the support of the Commission and shared the new outlook of Medemer (synergy) as the foundational philosophy for reforms in the country and Horn region integration.

He shared the priority areas for Ethiopia and effective ways of supporting the reforms, particularly in ensuring democratic elections and enabling a new democratic culture.

Mrs. Mogherini recalled the long-standing relationship between Ethiopia and the European Union and the future collaboration to come.

She affirmed that Europe had noticed the changes the Government has brought to the country and Horn region and committed the Union’s full technical and financial support.

Belgium was the third stop of an official tour that started on Monday in Rome, where PM Abiy met with his Italian counterpart and the president. He also had a meeting with the Pope and heads of other international agencies.

From Rome, he traveled to Davos, Switzerland, where he participated in the World Economic Forum, WEF. In his address, Abiy stressed the resolve of his administration to see through and consolidate wide-ranging reforms started since April 2018.

After pledging to make doing business in Ethiopia easier for everyone who wishes to invest in Ethiopia, he called on investors from all across the world to take advantage of the considerable investment and business potentials available in the country.

Abiy held several high-profile meetings on the sidelines of his participation at the WEF as he continually wooed investors to Africa’s second most populous nation.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addressed the 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos (Switzerland) yesterday.

The Prime Minister told participants about the nationwide reforms undertaken during the past nine months and the economic growth registered in the country.

“Ethiopia today is among the fastest growing economies in the world, consistently averaging growth of over 9%. Poverty has been halved, and education enrolment has markedly increased,” he said.

“Ethiopia’s Gross domestic product (GDP) has multiplied ten fold in 25 years.”

According to the Prime Minister, investment in infrastructure has contributed a lot to the growth and attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), making Ethiopia one of the leading FDI destinations in Africa.

“Our challenges, however, remain formidable.” The challenge, he explained, is to sustain that level of growth, especially to find jobs for a rapidly expanding young population.

“In order to enforce our up word trajectory and achieve even more rapid and sustainable growth, Ethiopia has embarked on a comprehensive reform process since last April,” he said.

The reform is deeply rooted in the philosophy of “medemer” an Amharic word for coming together, which is people-centered and has three interdependent pillars- vibrant democracy, economic vitality and regional integration and openness to the world, he said.

After pledging to make doing business in Ethiopia easier for everyone who wishes to invest in Ethiopia, he called on investors from all across the world to take advantage of the considerable investment and business potentials available in the country.

The Prime Minister said his government is committed to opening up the economy to international investors in telecom, logistics, energy, aviation, railways, and industrial parks. The Premier further said his government would continue to foster public-private partnership.

Besides, Ethiopia will also be hosting the World Economic Forum in 2020. The decision followed a meeting between Chairman of the Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, and PM Abiy Ahmed.

More than 13,000 people have benefited from the amnesty law in the past six months, according to the Federal Attorney General.

The amnesty law, which was passed by the Ethiopian parliament on 20 July 2018, came to an end yesterday after six months.

More than 13, 200 individuals took advantage of the law during this period.

The law grants amnesty for individuals and groups either under investigation or convicted on treason, crime against the constitutional order and armed struggle.

However, criminals convicted of genocide, extrajudicial killings, forced abduction, and committing inhuman torture and beating will not benefit from the law.

After rapid economic growth averaging 10% every year between 2004 and 2014, Ethiopia has emerged as an engine of development in Africa.

And there are no signs that ambitions for further growth are fading. This is clear from the government’s blueprint to achieve middle-income status—or gross national income of at least $1006 per capita – by 2025. This would see a rapid increase in per capita income in Ethiopia, which is currently $783, according to the World Bank.

Ethiopia’s growth has been propelled by at least two factors: the prioritization of agriculture as a key contributor to development and the fast-paced adoption of new technologies to boost the sector.

Ethiopia has seen the fastest growth in irrigation of any African country.
A third of Ethiopia’s GDP is generated through agriculture, and more than 12 million households rely on small-scale farming for their livelihoods. One of the drivers of growth in the agricultural sector has been the expansion of irrigation. The country has seen the fastest growth in irrigation of any African country. The area under irrigation increased by almost 52% between 2002 and 2014.

This was achieved by investing in the sector, and by harnessing technology to expand irrigation to farmers who traditionally relied on rainfall to water their crops. This boosted productivity and income for farmers by helping them extend the growing season and become more consistent in their production.

Meanwhile, only 6% of arable land is currently irrigated across the whole of Africa. This means that there’s huge potential to expand irrigation and unlock economic growth.

These factors are highlighted by a new report from the Malabo Montpellier Panel. The panel convenes experts in agriculture, ecology, nutrition and food security to guide policy choices by African governments. The aim is to help the continent accelerate progress towards food security and improved nutrition.

The panel’s latest report analyses progress—and highlights best practice—in irrigation in six countries. These include Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Niger and South Africa. Other African countries can draw lessons from the report’s insights. The report identified a number of common factors in countries where significant progress has been made to expand irrigation, including key policy and institutional innovations.

In the case of Ethiopia, one of the main reasons for its success is that agriculture and irrigation have been featured on the Ethiopian policy agenda since 1991. In addition, specialized institutions have been set up with clear commitments to maximize the benefits of water control and irrigation systems. In addition, the government has invested in the sector and has plans to continue doing so. It aims to allocate $15 billion to irrigation development by 2020.

Finally, Ethiopia has harnessed the value of a full range of irrigation technologies. These have ranged small-scale interventions to large infrastructure.

A joint project between the Ethiopian Bureau of Agriculture, local extension officers, and an NGO called Farm Africa, for example, helped women and young people adopt small-scale irrigation. This was part of an initiative to increase their incomes and improve their nutrition.

Overall, the project reached nearly 6,400 women and landless people. The irrigation project also benefited 700 farming families.

The experience of Ethiopia and other countries leading on irrigation can help other African governments develop country-specific strategies to effectively take irrigation to scale. The benefits of doing so, such as enhancing on-farm productivity and income, and improving resilience and livelihoods, are transformational.

The expansion in irrigated farming, coupled with reliable agricultural inputs and stable markets for the expected growth in farm products, has the potential to catapult Ethiopia to the forefront of African countries that have embraced agriculture as the engine of economic growth.

Source: Quartz

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was on official visit to Italy, met with his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, in Rome on Monday.

In a joint press conference after the meeting, PM Guiseppe Conte expressed his government’s interest to cover the feasibility study cost for the railway project that links Addis Ababa with the port city of Massawa, Eritrea.

Commenting on Italy’s support, Prime Minister Abiy expressed his gratitude for the government of Italy. “The comprehensive discussion which I had with Giuseppe Conte, in particular, was important to take the bilateral relationship between Ethiopia and Italy to the next level,” he said.

In response to the offer made by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Premier Abiy Ahmed said: “We are excited and accept with great honor Italy’s Plan to extend support on Ethiopia’s plan to link Addis Ababa with Massawa via railway.”

Prime Minister Conte has also expressed his government’s plan to extend support to the soldiers returning from the Ethio-Eritrea border following the peace agreement between the two neighboring countries.

The Prime Minister also called for enhanced cooperation between Ethiopia and Italy in the areas of development, peace, and tourism.

In light with this Prime Minister Abiy conferred with Pope Francis at the Vatican Apostolic Palace upon which the Pope lauded the historic agreement signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea to end border standoff.

The common interests of both Ethiopia and the Vatican City State, including the peace accord with Eritrea, was at the core of the discussion.

Premier Abiy also discussed with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of the Holy State of Vatican and visited the Abyssinians Church of St. Stephen of located in Vatican City, where he was received by Cardinal Berhane Yesus, who recognized the Premier’role in the peace bridge that has been built between Ethiopia and Eritrea on his initiation.

Concluding his two days visit in Italy, PM Abiy Ahmed has arrived in Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in Rome, Italy, on Sunday, his first stop on a European tour that will see him attend the upcoming World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland.

Upon arrival, he was warmly received by members of the Ethiopian community in Rome, where he will be holding key bi-lateral discussions with development partners beginning today.

He will also meet with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, following the invitation he made to PM Abiy during his visit to Ethiopia in 2018, according to the office of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister will be attending World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland to begin on 22 January and end on 25 January 2019, where he will be one of the key speakers.

In Davos, he will also strike dialogues with world leaders, global business leaders, economists, politicians, international financiers, and renowned high-profile academics.

The theme of this year’s World Economic Forum is “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a New Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

PM Abiy’s last European tour saw him visit France and Germany in November 2018.

The United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on Thursday hosted a day-long workshop aimed at enhancing Ethiopia’s policy coherence for the sustainable development goals through integrated climate, land, energy and water (CLEWS) assessments and institutional strengthening.

The three UN entities are implementing a capacity development project to support the East African country’s coherence in policy formulation in the four areas.

In opening remarks to the workshop, Ethiopia’s Water, Irrigation and Electricity Minister, Seleshi Bekele, said Ethiopia’s overall development goals were ambitious, adding the country was determined to make it.

“This requires that we do not do things in the business as usual way. We must optimise our resources, including human, financial and natural resources,” the Minister said.

“For this to happen we must work as a joint-up government where ministries and departments with overlapping mandates capitalise on that overlap to work together based on their respective comparative advantages and efficient use of resources to achieve the country’s development objective.”

He said achieving “our development objective depends very much on how we invest in and use our land, energy and water resources” which are also very sensitive to climate change.

“Therefore, although all of the SDGs are interlinked, the coupling between climate, land, energy, and water is a crucial one that provides a unique opportunity for substantive efficiency and optimal investment planning in support of the SDGs.”

The UN support to the Government of Ethiopia will focus on two interrelated areas; the application of integrated quantitative analysis to address interlinkages between climate, land, energy and water systems; and institutional arrangements and mechanisms to facilitate effective and structural coordination among stakeholders in these areas.

In his welcome remarks, the ECA’s Officer in Charge for the Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resources Management Division, Oliver Chinganya said the project would build capacities for integrated assessment methodologies to address interlinkages and tradeoffs among policies, goals and the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

“Indeed, all the SDGs are interlinked, but the nexus between land, energy, and water is particularly strong, especially against a background of a changing climate,” he said.

African countries are experiencing catastrophic climate change and variability impacts in inter-related ways across many sectors, yet African economies remain strongly dependent on these climate-sensitive sectors for their development.

“Therefore, building sustainable and resilient economies in support of Africa’s transformation does require climate-informed and integrated strategies and approaches with a focus on the climate, land, energy and water sectors nexus,” said Mr. Chinganya.

For his part, Thomas Alfstad, Adviser in UNDESA’s Economic Analysis and Policy Division shared the CLEWs framework with participants who are experts drawn from various Ethiopian ministries.

He said it will provide policy-relevant insights, information, and quantitative estimates and can help identify interlinkages among sectors; help determine likely quantitative aspects of such interlinkages; identify robust relationships, key risks, explore technology and policy alternatives to mitigate unwanted outcomes.

“It will also help explore technology and policy alternatives to realize co-benefits so we can maximise synergies,” said Mr. Alfstad.

CLEWs is a methodology for integrated assessment of resource systems that provide a means to analyze and assess the interlinkages that exist among energy, water and agricultural systems as well as their impacts on – and vulnerability to – climate change.

Ethiopia passed a law on Thursday giving almost 1 million refugees the right to work and live outside of camps, in a move praised for providing them with more dignity and reducing reliance on foreign aid.

The objective of the bill is to fill the legal gaps that were not incorporated in the previous proclamation of Ethiopia which hosts more than 906,000 refugees. Among other things, the law provides a structure that enables legal refugees to engage in inclusive development programs in the localities they reside, based on the country’s land lease and finance system, Fozia stated.

According to her, the bill will help to enhance the country’s visibility and acceptance internationally and provides the groundwork for further promoting the livelihood of refugees and host communities.

Fozia further noted that it would cement the current spirit of good neighborliness with the countries in the sub-region, strengthen people-people relation, and improve Ethiopia’s administration of refugees and service delivery.

Ethiopia is home to Africa’s second largest refugee population, who have fled conflict, drought, and persecution in neighbouring countries such as South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

With record numbers of people being forced to flee their homes, most of the world’s 25 million refugees are hosted by developing countries in camps where funding shortages often leave them short of basics like food and education.

The new law is in line with Ethiopia’s commitment toward the United Nations Global Compact on Refugees, adopted by world leaders in December to increase refugees’ self-reliance and ease the pressure on host nations.

The law allows refugees to move out of the camps, attend regular schools and to travel and work across the country. Refugees can formally register births, marriages and deaths, and will have access to financial services such as bank accounts.

The head of the Ethiopian Investment Commission Fitsum Arega said the new legislation was part of the country’s “Jobs Compact” – a $500 million program which aims to create 100,000 jobs – 30 percent of which will be allocated to refugees.

“This helps refugees & supports #Ethiopia’s industrialization,” said Arega on Twitter.

Aid workers said Ethiopia served as an example in a world where, in some regions, the rights and freedoms of refugees and migrants are being eroded.

“As some Western countries have adopted xenophobic policies while turning away refugees, we are pleased that Ethiopia has passed this revised refugee law,” said Stine Paus, Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Ethiopia.

It will allow more refugees to live in urban areas, secure limited work permits, give some access to farmland and increase education enrolment for refugee children, she said.

“The law will help refugees feel included and that they can contribute to society,” said Dana Hughes, spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency in East Africa.

“But we must remember that access to education and employment doesn’t just benefit refugees, it also contributes to the economy and benefits local communities. Such legislation isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do.”