It took just 2 hours, nine minutes and 34 seconds for Solomon Deksisa to achieve his target of winning the gold medal in the overall men of the 2018 Mumbai marathon.

While he could not better his personal best of 2:06:22 achieved in the Rotterdam Marathon in 2016, the victory in Mumbai gave Deksisa an immense pleasure coming under difficult conditions and rough, narrow, turning and twisting streets of Mumbai. Deksisa’s compatriot Shumet Akalnaw reached the finish 16 seconds behind him at 2:10:00 while the third place went to Kenya’s Joshya Kipkorir who clocked 2:10:30.

It was a double delight for Ethiopia as the women’s title too went to them with Amane Gobena clinching the gold in 2:25:49. The winners of both overall men’s and women’s categories will return home richer by $42,000.

“I expected to win,” said an elated Deksisa with the help of his translator Getaneh Tessama who is also his coach. “This is my first win in Mumbai and will motivate me to participate in other races,” he added.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-mumbai-marathon-2018-day-of-ethiopian-road-runners-in-mumbai-2577379

 

 

 

On January 12, 2018 Ambassador Teshome Toga met with Mr. Marc Angel, MP and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Parliament of Luxembourg and Ms. Tania Tennia, Head of the International Department. The two sides discussed matters related to bilateral and multilateral issues of mutual concern of the two countries.  During the meeting, Ambassador Teshome explained Ethiopia’s present socio-economic development and the measures taken by the government to widen the political space and forge national consensus emphasizing the recent decision of the government by terminating charges against some political leaders by pardoning some sentence prison terms.

He also stressed Ethiopia’s effort in maintaining regional peace and security and shouldering the responsibility lost of refugees. On his behalf, the chairman, appreciated the existing political diplomatic relationships and underscored the need to strengthen the economic relation between the two countries. The two sides have also briefed each other regarding outcome of AU-EU summit which took place on 29-30 November 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and underscored the need for political commitments to achieve the common priorities for the AU-Africa partnership in identified priority areas.

Later, the Ambassador had a discussion with Mr. Olivier Massart, Executive Director of ADA and discussed matters related particularly to the African Microfinance week which was held from 9-13 October 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Massart presented on how his organization made the overall preparation in collaboration with the Ethiopian Embassy in Brussels and stakeholders in Ethiopia. He extended his heartfelt gratitude to Ambassador Teshome for his instrumental support given to his organization and devoted following up until the successful completion of the Conference which attracted over 600 participants from many countries. Amb. Teshome underlined the pivotal role played by the small and micro enterprise and the role in microfinance in mounting Ethiopia’s economy and enquired the support of the organization to strengthen the overall capacity together with the Ethiopian Federal Micro & Small Enterprises Development Agency.

On the same day, Ambassador Teshome also met with Mr. Diederick Zambon, Head of Division European Investment Bank. The discussion focused on EIB financed projects in Mojo leather industry city regarding its appraisal and of the approval of the project and status of leather industry value chain project launched as part of EU’s job compact. The two sides also exchanged ideas on the field visit organized for Board member of the Bank to Ethiopia and the possibility of hosting EIB Africa Day in Addis Ababa in 2018. Both sides also further discussed issues related to EIB’s challenge in accessing to local bids due to local procurement and production content.

Finally, with the view of strengthening the economic relationships of the two countries, Ambassador Teshome met with Mr. Daniel Sahr, Head of International Trade in Chamber of Commerce Luxembourg. The meeting was mainly stressed on identifying possible ways of engaging companies who went to Addis Ababa as part of the first pre-investment Mission to Ethiopia. The Chamber identified companies who have shown interest to consider investment in Ethiopia and finally, the two sides highlighted the need to engage in one on to one the interested companies to invest in Ethiopia.

On the following day, with the view of promoting the Ethiopian culture and its tourism destination to the Luxembourgish people, Ambassador Teshome took part in the LUXEXPO which was held on January 12-14 2018. At this event, the Embassy together with the Ethiopian Airlines promoted the Beautiful image of Ethiopia with a stand colorfully decorated Ethiopian accompanied by its peculiar coffee ceremony, cultural music and dances. The Luxembourgish Wort, placing Ethiopia’s stand image on its front cover page, reported that this year the visitors from Luxembourg and the surrounding counties increased by 6000 and the total has reached to 29,000 visitors.

Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Workneh Gebeyehu asserted on 16 January that the partnership between Ethiopia and Egypt is longstanding, beyond the Nile River that the two countries share.

Gebeyehu made the remarks during his discussion with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on the sidelines of the 6th Ethiopia-Egypt Joint Ministerial Commission meeting.

Gebeyehu, who praised the historic relations between the two countries, also called for further strengthening the ties between Ethiopia and Egypt with due emphasis given to priority interest areas.

According to Gebeyehu, the diplomatic relations among Ethiopia and Egypt is beyond the Nile River that the two countries share and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile River, a major tributary to the River Nile.

Shoukry revealed that the current high-level meeting between Ethiopia and Egypt mainly envisaged to strengthen partnerships in the areas of education, culture, trade and investment.

The diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Egypt is largely intertwined with the Blue Nile River that originates from Ethiopia and shared among Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

The construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the river, which will be regarded as Africa’s largest dam upon completion with a total volume of 74,000 million cubic meters, has been a major issue among the two countries since its commencement in April, 2011 with a construction cost of 80 billion Ethiopian birr (close to 4.7 billion U.S. dollars). While Ethiopia and Sudan reached a mutual consensus on the construction of the dam, Egypt frequently expressed its concern that the dam would affect its share of the river.

The three countries had formed a tripartite committee back in 2012 to create understanding and look into the benefits and impacts the project would have in the three countries.

Announcement from Awash International Bank

 

Link_to_Awash_Bank_Form

 

Work is to start later this year on the construction of a railway training academy, Ethiopian Railways Corp announced on January 13.

When fully operational, the academy is expected to employ around 250 teachers and administrative staff, training up to 1 00 students at a time in seven different railway-related disciplines.

The Chinese-built electrified railway linking Addis Ababa and Djibouti began full commercial operation on January 8, following a year of trial running since its formal launch in October 2016. The line is initially being operated by Chinese contractors but is scheduled to transfer to local management after five years. While some Ethiopian staff have already been sent to China and Russia for training, the new academy is expected to play a key role in ensuring that the necessary operational and engineering skills are available.

Under an agreement signed in December 2016, a joint company is being established to manage the railway, owned 75% by Ethiopia and 25% by Djibouti. Ethiopia is to appoint three of the four board members, including Transport Minister Ahmed Shide who will act as Chairman, according to ERC Communications Director Dereje Tefera.

A cornerstone laying ceremony was held on 16 January in Ethiopia’s eastern city, Dire Dawa, for a textile plant that will be built with an investment of 220 million U.S. dollars. Dire Dawa mayor’s office said Chinese firm Wuxi No. 1 Cotton Mill will build the textile plant which will lie on 40 hectares of land. The construction of the textile plant will take 30 months and is expected to employ 3,000 Ethiopians once commissioned.

The plant will be located inside Dire Dawa Industrial Park (DDIP) that is currently being constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). DDIP, currently being built at a cost of 159 million U.S. dollars on 159 hectares of land, is expected to attract industries specialized in textile, apparel, and agro-processing.

The Ethiopian government is financing the construction of the industrial park which is expected to be commissioned later this year. The textile plant’s cornerstone laying ceremony was held in the presence of Liu Yu, economic and commercial counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Ethiopia and Ibrahim Usman, mayor of Dire Dawa city administration.

Ethiopia has earned $ 143.88 million from the export of oilseeds during the first 5 months of the current fiscal year – exceeding the plan by 11.2 percent. The development was disclosed by the country’s Ministry of Trade. During the period, Ethiopia exported more than 128 thousand tons of oilseeds, which is 27.92 percent higher than what the country exported same period last fiscal year. The revenue, on the other hand, is 31.72 percent higher than what the subsector made in the first 5 months of last fiscal year.

 

Commenting on the achievements, Shimelis Arega, Senior Public Relations Expert at the Ministry, said the increase in global sesame price and strong monitoring and support mechanism from the ministry enhanced the performance of the subsector.

The performance has enabled Ethiopia to secure a little more than 70 percent of the annual target it has set when it comes to volume of export. Nevertheless, the revenue generated is only 58.12 percent of the yearly plan.

In the entire past fiscal year, Ethiopia made 345.29 million USD from the export of 323,755 tons of oilseeds.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Ethiopia has planned ambitious programs of forest landscape restoration to resuscitate more than 20 million hectares of degraded forest landscapes within the next 20 years, The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change disclosed.

In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Dr Yitebitu Moges, Manager for REDD+ program under the Ministry, said that the forest coverage of the country will leap to 20 percent by 2030 from its three percent status it was in two decades ago.

A plan is set to develop seven million hectares of forestland by the end of the strategic year, as there is a conducive environment to achieve the target.

Dr Yitebitu Moges also said that the nation suffers the dwindling of about 92 thousand hectares of forest covered land every year. To curb this problem, the Ministry has to engage itself aggressively in the development of forest lands, integrating things with the green development strategy.

 

According to a World Bank report, the Ethiopian economy will maintain its growth lead for the East African region. The economy, however, dropped a step in growth forecast in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, falling behind Ghana. In June 2017, the WB forecast Ethiopia as the most expansive in SSA pegging growth at 8.3%. The latest forecast puts Ethiopia at a percentage point behind Ghana. The West African nation is forecast to grow at 8.3% as against Ethiopia’s 8.2%.

Among East African countries, Ethiopia is likely to remain the fastest growing economy, but growth is expected to soften as it takes measures to stabilize government debt. Other 2018 forecasts for the East African region’s economic giants are Kenya (5.5%), Tanzania (6.8%), Uganda (5.1%) and Rwanda (5.9%). Ethiopia beat Kenya last year to become economic giant of the region according to the IMF.

The WB’s Global Economic Prospects report released on January 10, 2018, said there was a modest recovery underway in Sub-Saharan Africa buoyed by an improvement in commodity prices.

Under the area of outlook, the report said regional growth was projected at 3.2% for this year up to an average of 3.6% in 2019 – 2020. It hinted at a solid performance for non-resource-intensive countries hinging it to public investment growth. “Non-resource-intensive countries are projected to expand at a solid pace, helped by robust public investment growth. Economic activity is expected to remain solid in WAEMU, with Ivory Coast and Senegal expanding at a rapid pace,” the report added.

http://www.africanews.com/2018/01/11/ethiopia-to-remain-east-africa-s-fastest-growing-economy-world-bank-forecast/