Addis Ababa, 24 October 2014 (WIC) – The European Union (EU) on Thursday announced the approval of five million Euros for Ethiopia, to enable the country to effectively deal with the influx of refugees from South Sudan.

Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, who made the disclosure in Addis Ababa, said that the fund would enable the African nation to respond to the needs of the increasing number of refugees.

Georgieva disclosed that Ethiopia had received 31 million euros this year, for the tackling of refugee crisis.

She said that the aid was channeled to the government of the country through humanitarian partners, including UN agencies and non-governmental organizations.

She said the new financing followed the influx of 190,000 additional South Sudanese refugees into Ethiopia, bringing the total refugees’ number in the country to 643,000.

“The catastrophe happening in South Sudan has a huge impact throughout the region.

“Since the crisis erupted last December, Ethiopia has given refuge to many South Sudanese,’’ she said.

Georgieva added that the funds would help to meet the basic needs of the refugees, which included shelter, food, water and health.

She said that the high influx of refugees was adding to vulnerabilities in Ethiopia, which was prone to drought and flood. (EU)

 

Ethiopian FM Dr Tedros at Investment forum in Norway, in October 2014 (Image: Geeska Afrika)

Addis Ababa, 21 October 2014 (WIC) – Ethiopia has given top priority to the kernel of the entire diplomacy; economic diplomacy, as the nation has one formidable enemy; poverty or backwardness.

To effectively combat and eradicate poverty and backwardness, one has to pursue economic diplomacy which would enable it to attract more investment, trade, tourism among others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.

Economic policies adopted by the government in the last two decades have played an instrumental role in developing the country’s economy. Ethiopia has become one of the ten fastest growing countries in the world. Its past tarnished image of poverty, backwardness and war is being gradually reversed, the Ministry said.

In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ambassador Dina Mufti said that the major economic diplomacy framework aims at attracting investment from foreign countries, promoting massive Foreign Direct Investment and ensuring proper technology transfer among others.

“We give emphasis to expanding the frontier of our relations to all corners of the world. In principle, as Ethiopia is part and parcel of the global community, it should have a vibrant tie with every country. If you ask me the distribution of Ethiopian councilors and embassies, I can assure you that they are scattered all over the world but basically we try to have embassies and consulates where things matter most,” the Ambassador said.

Ambassador Dina further said that nowadays the role economic diplomacy plays is immense. Recognizing this fact, economic diplomacy tops priority areas not only on Ethiopia’s diplomacy orbit but also on all nations’ diplomacy hubs. That is why Ethiopian diplomats are currently busy in speeding up the development of trade, the expansion of investment and the strengthening of relationships. They acquaint the country’s potential investment alternatives to the global business community, Ambassador Dina said.

Ethiopia’s trade link among different nations is gathering momentum. But this is not enough given the nation’s untapped and immense investment opportunities in the fields of agriculture, livestock, agro-processing, manufacturing, industry, construction and tourism.

Ambassador Dina said, on annual bases, Ethiopian ambassadors come together at experience sharing and idea cross-fertilization forums. On such occasions they discuss among themselves, congratulate over achievements, exchange recommendations over limitations and cheer out the yearly plan they envisage. They also get orientations on new phenomenon and new areas of focus. They as well conduct series of seminars. The objective is to strengthen their capacity especially where gaps are apparent. In such forums, he noted, ambassadors will be familiar with the new development within the country.

However, “Currently due to financial reasons and logistics we cannot have embassies all over the world but basically we have embassies in some major countries, specifically, countries that we call strategic partners.”

The nation does have diplomatic relations almost with all countries of the world, with over 180 countries. But here it must be noted that Ethiopia does have diplomatic relations where it even does not have embassies.

Approached by this journalist to have his say on the matter instructor of Political Science and International Relations at Addis Ababa University Demeke Achiso (PhD) on his part noted that, “Economic diplomacy tops the political agenda of every government in the 21th century. The same is true with the Ethiopian government. “Our representatives and top officials have committed themselves more to the economic issues.”

Economics and politics are the two sides of the same coin. As it is true of other nations, conducive political environment is basically needed to ensure sustainable economic development in Ethiopia, he said.

After ensuring democracy, peace and security as well as stabilizing regional security governments are now looking for economic diplomacy, because the key question for every society is the question of betterment, employment and income, Demeke said.

As to Demeke, the Ethiopian government is creating conducive environment to investors that come from abroad to invest in Ethiopia so as to improve national GDP and individual’s living standard in every aspect.

Yet now, we are not in a position to argue that the government’s economic diplomacy is 100 per cent successful. “Currently we are witnessing unprecedented success stories in Ethiopian history as compared to the era of the previous regimes,” he said. (EH)

This was noted at a press conference recently by Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association (ECEA) to give a briefing on the 3rd International Ethiopian Coffee Conference, which will be held on November 6-7, 2014 at Hilton Addis.

In addition to this, Ethiopia is chosen as a ‘Portrait country’ – for Arabica Coffee producers, for the 27th annual Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) event, to be held on April of next year at Seattle, Washington.

This increasing international spotlight that’s bestowing upon Ethiopia’s coffee sector is a result of the two previous conferences staged by Ethiopian Coffee Exporters’ Association, according to the Association’s press release.

Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association (ECEA) was established with an objective to encourage the production of quality coffee by promoting coffee export and by collectively resolving problems its 125 member faces.

To this end, the Association believes that the annual conferences have wide-ranging benefits running the gamut from serving as a platform for coffee exporters and buyers, to having a positive impact on the country’s tourism.

The previous conferences have helped promote Ethiopia’s coffee to a wider audience; building and maintaining, for the large part, the legacy and place of the country in the coffee world, according to the President of the Association’s Directors, Hussein Agran .

Aiming at maintaining this successful steam, the 3rd International Ethiopian Coffee Conference will be held under the theme “Towards Quality and Tracebility”.

As a country with an immense potential the lights of which can make it stand next to Brazil and Colombia, Hussien believes that the conference will create the opportunity for the country to utilize its full potential. “Generally, the conference will help the country get all the benefits that it should out of the sector”, says Hussien.

Going by the Press release of the Association; discussions, panel discussion and research papers that focuses on Quality and traceability of coffee will be held during the two-day conference.

The conference will look for ways to turn Ethiopia’s legacy as home to the finest coffee, which was demonstrated recently with its win at the world’s largest blind-tasted food awards, to a high-quality product that can rack-up high premium price return to the country.

“Discussions on how the country can improve its quality and various papers on the relation that exists between quality and price and its benefits will be presented at the conference,” said Alemseged Assefa, Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association General Manager.

Tapping into the growing demand for traceability in agricultural products, especially in the foreign market and consumers, this edition of conference aims at establishing traceability for its coffee products and expand the market reach of the sector.

“There’s a project initiated to make Ethiopian coffee traceable, that would be undertaken by Ethiopian Commodity Exchange/ECX starting from next year”, says Alemseged, “not many countries have moved into endeavor.”

This will give Ethiopia a head-start in this aspect, whose benefits ranges from benefiting the farmers to increasing consumer confidence in Ethiopian Coffee. The General Manager also added that countries like Kenya and Uganda have already requested to take part in the conference to gain experience from Ethiopia.

It’s expected that major players in the sector, various researchers, Ethiopian coffee buyers association and international coffee organizations will take part in the conference.

Finally, the association has called on coffee exporters, both member and non-members, and those interested in the coffee industry to register and take part in the conference. (EH)

Addis Ababa, 18 October 2014 (WIC) – A Business Forum entitled ‘Invest in Ethiopia’, organized by the Norwegian African Business Association was held in Oslo, Norway on Thursday (October 16).

The Forum aimed to build a new chapter of cooperation between Norway and Ethiopia and was attended by high-level government officials from both countries as well as members of business confederations and representatives of Norwegian companies.

Presentations were made about the business opportunities available in Ethiopia and the Forum reached a consensus that there was growing interest among investors to engage in the various possibilities.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, who attended the Forum, said it demonstrated new possibilities to strengthen cooperation between Norway and Africa and more especially with Ethiopia.

It would boost bilateral relations between Norway and Ethiopia, he said, and increase investment and economic partnerships to add to the excellent relations the two countries already had in their strategic and political links.

Dr. Tedros noted that Norway has proclaimed its partnership for the implementation of Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy and its support for the country’s clean energy development as well as for the agriculture and forest sectors.

Dr. Tedros briefed the audience on Ethiopia’s achievements in various sectors of its pro- poor development strategy which provides a development focus for the majority of people living in rural areas, and gave an account of Ethiopia’s achievements in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and some details of its fast economic growth.

In conclusion, Dr. Tedros provided eight reasons to invest in Ethiopia: its political and social stability, a supportive macroeconomic policy, its strategic geographic position, an abundant labor force, a conducive legal framework, competitive incentives, one of the lowest corruption levels, and a generally supportive environment for foreign direct investment. (MoFA)

Addis Ababa, 13 October 2014 (WIC) – Ethiopia has achieved the MDG goal one, halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

Ethiopia is among the 63 developing countries have reached the MDG target.Ethiopia is also among the 25 countries that achieved the more ambitious World Food Summit (WFS) target of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015.

The nation has managed to reduce undernourished people to 35 percent, which 20 years ago was 75 percent, the Ministry said.

The various activities being undertaken by the government to increase food security has contributed for the success.

According to the Ministry, Ethiopia along with the other countries will be honored at the 150th FAO Conference to be held in December.

The agriculture sector, growing by 8 percent in average is contributing for the overall development of the country and this achievement, the Ministry said.

According to reports, Ethiopia has made commendable progress towards reaching most of the MDGs. Apart from the overall decline in poverty, positive gains have been made in terms of education, health and reducing the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. These advances are owed largely to the Government’s efforts, with substantial support from the UN.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI 2014) report issued by FAO confirmed a positive trend which has seen the number of hungry people decline globally by more than 100 million over the last decade and by 209 million since 1990-92.

The overall trend in hunger reduction in developing countries means that the (MDG) of halving the proportion of undernourished people by 2015 is within reach, the report said.

To date, 63 developing countries have reached the MDG target, and six more are on track to reach it by 2015. (ENA)

Addis Ababa, 13 October 2014 (WIC) – Ethiopia is planning to earn a total of over $2.5 billion revenue from its exports of agricultural products during the current budget year, which began in July, an official with the Ministry of Trade said on Sunday.

“The stated amount of revenue will be secured from the export of more than 1.1 million tons of agricultural products,” Abdurrahman Seid, Public Relation Deputy Head of the Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

He said the products include coffee, oil seeds, cereals, khat, spices, natural gum and incense among others.

“The revenue is projected to surpass by 16.3 percent that of the $2.1 billion income earned during the previous budget year,” he added.

The target is taking into consideration the growth of agricultural products, market system efficiency, capacity of the exporters and suppliers of the products, he said.

The biggest export item will be coffee followed by oil seeds, Seid said.

Around $862 million of the total revenue is expected from the export of coffee, which contributes the lion’s share in the country’s economy, he said.

“The country will also export 362,422 tons of oil seeds and secure over $724.8 million revenue in this fiscal year,” he added.

Coffee is believed to have been first discovered in Ethiopia’s south-west region of Kaffa/Caffa, with its name derived from the region.

Africa’s largest coffee producer, Ethiopia generated some $718 million from coffee exports during the 2013/14 financial year. (Journal of Turkish Weekly)

የአየርላንድ መንግስት በዝቅተኛ የኑሮ ደረጃ ላይ ለሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የህግ ድጋፍ አገልግሎት የሚውል 200 ሺህ ዩሮ በእርዳታ ሰጠ።

የእርዳታ ስምምነቱን የተፈራረሙት በኢትዮጵያ የአየርላንድ አምባሳደር ኤደን ኦሆራና የኢትዮጵያ ሰብአዊ መብት ኮሚሽን ኮሚሽነር ጀነራል አምባሳደር ጥሩነህ ዜና ናቸው።

አምባሳደር ኦሆራ እንዳሉት ኢትዮጵያ በሰብአዊ መብት ዙሪያ እያከናወነች ላለው ጠንካራ እንቅስቃሴ አገራቸው የምታደርገውን ሁለንተናዊ እገዛ አጠናክራ ትቀጥላለች።

በአገሪቱ ውስጥ በተመረጡ 8 የመንግስት ዩኒቨርስቲዎች በዝቅተኛ የኑሮ ደረጃ ለሚገኙ የማህበረሰብ ክፍሎች እየተሰጠ ያለው የህግ ድጋፍ አገልግሎት እንዳስደሰታቸውና በቀጣይም የሚያደርጉት ድጋፍ ተጠናክሮ እንደሚቀጥል አምባሳደር ኦሆራ አረጋግጠዋል።

የኢትዮጵያ ሰብአዊ መብት ኮሚሽን ኮሚሽነር ጀነራል አምባሳደር ጥሩነህ ዜና በበኩላቸው ኮሚሽኑ እያከናወናቸው ካሉ ፕሮጀክቶች መካከል ነፃ የህግ ማማከርና ጥብቅና አገልግሎት አንዱ መሆኑን ገልፀዋል።

ኮሚሽኑ ለሚያከናውናቸው ተግባራት የተለያዩ አገራት ድጋፍና እርዳታ እያደረጉ መሆኑንና የአየርላንድ መንግስትም በሌሎች ፕሮግራሞች ላይ ከሚያደርገው ድጋፍ በተጨማሪ ለህግ ድጋፍ አገልግሎት ከፍተኛ አስተዋፆ እያበረከተ ነው ብለዋል።

በአሁኑ ወቅት አገልግሎቱን እየሰጡ ያሉት ዩኒቨርስቲዎች መቐለ፣ አክሱም፣ ባህርዳር፣ ጎንደር፣ ወላይታ ሶዶ፣ ዲላ፣ አዳማና ጂማ ዩኒቨርስቲ ናቸው።

ችግሩ ለመቅረፍም የኢትዮጵያ ሰብአዊ መብት ኮሚሽን ከኢትዮጵያ ሴት ጠበቆች ማህበር እንዲሁም ከዩኒቨርስቲዎች ጋር በመተባበር በመላ ሃገሪቱ 130 የሚሆኑ ነፃ የህግ ድጋፍ አገልግሎት መስጫ ማዕከላት ተከፍተዋል፡፡

ባለፉትሶስትአመታትብቻከ20 ሺህበላይዜጎችየአገልግሎቱተጠቃሚመሆናቸውንና በቀጣይምወደ 500 የሚደርሱማእከላትንየመክፈትእቅድመያዙን የኢዜአ ዘገባ ያመለክታል፡፡

ኢትዮጵያ ከግብርና ወደ ኢንዱስትሪ መር ለምታደርገው ኢኮኖሚያዊ ሽግግር የኔዘርላንድስ ሕዝብና መንግሥት አስፈላጊውን ድጋፍ እንደሚያደርጉ በኢትዮጵያ የአገሪቱ አምባሳደር ገለጹ።

አምባሳደር ሊዲ ረሜልዝዋል ኢትዮጵያ ለምታደረገው መዋቅራዊ ሽግግር አገራቸው አስፈላጊውን ድጋፍ እንደምታደርግ አረጋግጠዋል።

በአሁኑ ጊዜ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ከ80 በላይ የኔዘርላንድስ ኩባንያዎች በግብርና ኢንቨስትመንት መሰማራተቸውን ጠቅሰው ኩባንያዎቹ አገሪቱ ለምታደርገው የኢንዱስትሪ ሽግግር ጠቃሚ አስተዋጽኦ እንደሚያደርጉ ተናግረዋል።

ኢትዮጵያ በቀጣይ ሦስት ዓመታት ለምታከናውናቸው የልማት ሥራዎች ማስፈጸሚያ የሚውል 2 መቶ 18 ሚሊዮን ዩሮ ድጋፍ ሐገራቸው እንደምሰጥ አምባሳደሩ አመልክተዋል።

ኔዘርላንድስ ከፍተኛ የውኃ ኃብት ባለቤት አገር እንደሆነች ያስታወሱት አምባሳደሯ የውኃ ኃብትን እንዴት መጠቀም እንደሚቻል ያላትን ልምድ ለኢትዮጵያ ለማጋራት እየሰራች እንደምትገኝ አስታውቀዋል። ዘገባው የኢዜአ ነው።

Addis Ababa, 6 October 2014 (WIC) – Representatives of the European Union Parliament and Global Fund on Friday visited two health institutions which demonstrate Ethiopia’s health service delivery. The objective of the visit is to check on the delivery of health services in the country thereby mobilize funding to prevent malaria and other diseases in Ethiopia, according to delegation leader, Charles Goerens. The delegation has visited two clinics, the Modjo and Koga Nejo health centers, in Oromia State. The delegation visited the two clinics because of achievements regarding malaria, HIV and TB prevention and control activities.

“This country has many progress and I see well organized health centers that focus on disease prevention activities,” he said. Twenty percent of the total assistance of the European Union goes to health interventions to control such diseases, he added. Such kind of contribution has brought development in Ethiopia. “We have seen that our assistance is making health progress possible here in Ethiopia. So after this visit we will discuss with the EU parliament to continue the program,” Goerens said.

Ethiopia has been a beneficiary of the financial support from the Global Fund, said Disease Prevention and Control Director at the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdissa Kurke. Global Fund donated over 530 million USD to prevent HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis prevention and control. It is helping Ethiopia to treat, prevent and control malaria, HIV and TB, and strengthen its health system so as to improve service quality in health institutions. Through the concerted efforts being undertaken so far, Ethiopia has managed to prevent and control those diseases, Dr. Abdissa said.

The nation has managed to reduce new HIV infections by 90 percent. HIV transmission rate has also declined to 0.03 percent from the previous 0.28. New TB infections have also declined to 247/100,000 from the 425 in 1995. (ENA)