Meles back from Turkey
with business delegation By Groum Abate
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accompanied by some 21 business people left on Wednesday to Turkey for a four-day official visit.
Prime Minister Meles' visit was in line with the invitation extended to him by his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The delegation comprises senior government officials and more than 20 businesspeople engaged in textiles, construction, agro-industry including leather manufacturing, cereals and oil seeds export, and floriculture investment.  MORE
Drug makers banned from Ethiopian market By Groum Abate The Ethiopian Drug Administration and Control Authority (DACA) has banned some 67 pharmaceutical manufacturers from exporting their products to Ethiopia.
Sources told Capital that about 67 manufacturers out of 104 companies based in Kenya, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt are excluded from the import list by the authority. MORE Task force sacks chamber secretary general By Tedla Yeneakal
The Ethiopia Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Associations Secretary General, Andualem Tegene, was removed from his position by the Task Force Committee of the Chamber after being accused of inefficiency. Andualem was allegedly notified to leave his post by a letter addressed to him by the committee two weeks ago, Chamber sources disclosed.
The Task Force Committee of the Chamber comprises as members, the Presidents of chambers from Addis Ababa, Mekele, Awasa, Nazareth and Welayta. MORE Kenol buys Shell elements for half a billion birr By Groum Abate
After consolidating its presence in East, Central and Southern Africa, oil marketer, Kenol/Kobil has arrived in Ethiopia.
The firm on Tuesday confirmed that it had acquired 81 retail stations one depot in Addis Ababa, which used to be ex-Agip , and another depot in Dire Dawa from Shell Ethiopia, after over six months of negotiations.
Kenol paid over 504 million birr for the acquisition of the stations. MORE Kenya bans Ethiopian meat By Groum Abate The government of Kenya has directed public health officers in Mandera District to arrest anyone found importing meat from the neighboring countries of Somalia and Ethiopia.
According to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), the order follows a government ban on the sale of animal products and quarantine on the movement of livestock after an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever disease in Garissa and Wajir Districts in Kenya. MORE Private company to offer 5,000 jobs By Andualem Sisay Millennium 2000 Promotion Service, one of the many private partners of the National Ethiopian Millennium Festival Council, has on Thursday introduced ten projects worth 186 mln birr at the Global Hotel, which include creating job opportunities for 5,000 people across the country and building a vocational youth training center.
The Ethiopian Millennium is believed to create many opportunities for business. Out of the 200 projects presented to the National Council of the Ethiopian Millennium Secretariat, Millennium 2000 Promotion Service is the first to begin implementing its projects. MORE Bringing home ISO 9001/2000
ECBP awards Innovative Rural Housing champions By Andualem Sisay Engineering Capacity Building Program (ECBP), a more than 180 mln euros project financed by the German and Ethiopian governments, has launched a program on Tuesday, that will build the capacity of Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) and ultimately make the authority an internationally certified accreditation body. MORE EXIM opens $65 mln credit line to Ethiopia By Eskinder Michael The Export Import Bank of India (EXIM) has opened a new line of credit to the Ethiopian government worth 65 million USD and payable in 15 to 20 years, Geeta V. Poojary, Deputy General Manager told Capital’s reporter in New Delhi on January 31, 2007.
EXIM opened this line of credit so that the Ethiopian government can support its Universal Electrification Project. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) is to use the money to build transmission lines to electrify about 400 rural towns across Ethiopia, according to its plan.
“The Ethiopian government has identified an Indian company, namely Overseas Infrastructure that would help in the electrification process,” Geeta added. MORE Employers Federation splits By Groum Abate The 3rd General Assembly of the Ethiopian Employers Federation which (EEF) aimed at exchanging views and sharing experiences on topical issues was interrupted after seven of the nine board members were sacked.
The fired board members then separately formed the Addis Ababa Employers Federation in the presence of Mayor Berehane Deressa of the Caretaker Administration of Addis Ababa. MORE MIDROC sign collective agreement By our staff reporter Employers should help trade unions consolidate themselves and become supportive forces for the industrial sector, the Ethiopian Employers Federation said.
Speaking at the celebration of Company and Employees Day of Midroc Ethiopia Technology Group, federation representative Yohannes Beshah said strengthening trade unions and safeguarding the rights of their members will have a hugs contribution to boosting productivity. MORE Starbucks is 'Flat wrong' in calling Ethiopia’s licensing efforts illegal By Groum Abate Top U.S. law firm Arnold & Porter LLP refutes Starbucks’ VP claim that signing a license agreement with Ethiopia would be against the law.
Starbucks is misleading the public by claiming that Ethiopia’s efforts to trademark its prized coffee brands and license international distributors are illegal, says Robert Winter. Winter is partner at the Washington DC-based law firm Arnold & Porter LLP which has been advising Ethiopia in these efforts. MORE EEPCo-All hot by 2015? By Eskinder Michael The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has come out with an ambitious statement saying that Ethiopia would be 100% electrified by 2015.
Though the corporation has embarked on its Universal Electrification Project with a passion, its plan to fully electrify Ethiopia by 2015, the year that developing countries are expected to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sounds ambitious, say observers. MORE Four year old died with rape attempt By Andualem Sisay Last week a four year old girl passed away, in the middle of a rape attempt by a street vagabond in Nazareth. That morning, just before the incident, Wude Derege and her four year old daughter were selling gum, cigarettes and candy on the street in front of a hospital. All of a sudden, they heard a loud scream from the hospital and the mother went in to check what was going on, leaving her child and her goods on the street. But when the mother got back, her child was not there. MORE Speaker caps busy week
House strips MP’s immunity By Eskinder Michael The House of People’s Representatives, on Tuesday February 6, 2007, stripped the immunity of one Member of Parliament representing the All Amhara Unity Party who has allegedly raped a minor.
The House stating that it had received complaints that the MP had allegedly raped a 15 year old girl, revoked his parliamentary immunity so that he could be tried for the rape charges exclusively. His general immunity against being prosecuted for other potential cases still stands. MORE |
"Meles back from Turkey
with business delegation By Groum Abate
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accompanied by some 21 business people left on Wednesday to Turkey for a four-day official visit.
Prime Minister Meles' visit was in line with the invitation extended to him by his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The delegation comprises senior government officials and more than 20 businesspeople engaged in textiles, construction, agro-industry including leather manufacturing, cereals and oil seeds export, and floriculture investment.
The businesspeople are expected to hold separate and group discussions with their Turkish counterparts on ways of forging partnerships.
The Turkish Premier had held a similar visit to Ethiopia in March 2005.
The visit would enable them to strengthen the existing cooperation between the two countries in trade, investment and other fields.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday pledged increased Turkish support to development projects in Ethiopia as part of Turkey's efforts to forge closer ties with African nations.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Meles Zenawi, Erdoğan said a Turkish development agency would widen its involvement in Ethiopia by supporting education, health and vocational training there.
"We are prepared to offer them every kind of support," Erdoğan said.
Zenawi, the first prime minister from Ethiopia to visit Turkey, arrived late Wednesday for talks with Erdogan and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Erdoğan visited Ethiopia in 2005 as part of Turkey's policy to increase trade and cooperation with a continent it has long neglected.
"We wholeheartedly support your initiative to strengthen cooperation with Africa," Meles told reporters.
Erdoğan said Turkey, which has embassies in nine African countries — was aiming to open diplomatic missions all over the continent.
"(Our aim) is to rapidly establish embassies in all of the countries of Africa, in a way that would suit a country like Turkey," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan said both countries aimed to increase two-way trade from the current 150 million dollars to 500 million dollars in the coming years.
In series of steps to streamline commercial activities between Ethiopia and Turkey, the partners also agreed to end the current double taxation system. Turkey opened the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) in Addis Ababa in 2005. Since then, TİKA has been instrumental in opening more than 20 water wells in the region to meet Ethiopia's pressing water needs. Meles will be in Turkey until Feb. 10 to sign cooperation agreements in agriculture and tourism. Meles will also explore areas of partnership with Turkish businessmen in İstanbul.
Turkey, located in Southeast Europe and West Asia, is a member of NATO and other international organizations. Turkey has a population of over 72 million.
Drug makers banned from Ethiopian market By Groum Abate The Ethiopian Drug Administration and Control Authority (DACA) has banned some 67 pharmaceutical manufacturers from exporting their products to Ethiopia.
Sources told Capital that about 67 manufacturers out of 104 companies based in Kenya, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt are excluded from the import list by the authority.
A group of experts from the authority toured the above-mentioned countries where they paid visits to the manufacturing companies that used to export their products to Ethiopia.
Two other groups are also currently in India assessing manufacturers. These groups are expected to visit 24-30 manufacturers that export their drugs to Ethiopia.
The manufacturers were banned for not complying with the approved standard. DACA used the World Health Organization’s Good Manufacturers Practice (GMP) to evaluate the manufacturers.
Sources from the Authority told Capital that measures were taken on the importers, after officials of the administration paid visits to some pharmaceutical manufacturers in India and China and found that the drugs manufactured in these factories were actually not meeting the internationally set standard.
“Some of the drug manufacturers we visited were producing in an outrageously unhygienic environment and the drugs were found to be fatal,” said one of the delegates of the inspection team. “We have learnt that ten local importers were actually buying their drugs from these manufacturers.”
A local business man in the pharmaceutical industry here in Addis, speaking anonymously, supported the measure taken by the drug controlling authorities. He said that such drugs could be very hazardous to health.
The pharmaceutical sector is guided by a national drug policy issued in November 1993 G.C and regulated by the "Drug Administration and Control Proclamation No. 176/1999’’ promulgated on 29 June1999.
The Drug Administration and Control Authority (DACA), which was established by the above proclamation, is the National Drug Regulatory Authority. DACA issues certificate of competence to manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.
A system of drug registration and laboratory quality control exists. There are different registration fees for imported and locally manufactured drugs but there is no distinction between innovator brand products and generic medicines.
One importer who wished to remain anonymous said that his company imports drugs from Europe, but complained that anyone could find on the local market similar drugs imported from India or China at much lower prices.
Pharmaceutical importers often complain that inadequate measures have been taken by the World Health Organization (WHO), saying that there is no strict regulation that monitors drug manufacturers internationally.
Task force sacks chamber secretary general By Tedla Yeneakal
The Ethiopia Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Associations Secretary General, Andualem Tegene, was removed from his position by the Task Force Committee of the Chamber after being accused of inefficiency. Andualem was allegedly notified to leave his post by a letter addressed to him by the committee two weeks ago, Chamber sources disclosed.
The Task Force Committee of the Chamber comprises as members, the Presidents of chambers from Addis Ababa, Mekele, Awasa, Nazareth and Welayta.
“Andualem has been found to be sluggish and inefficient, that is why he was sacked from his post,” a Chamber official said. “Many complaints about his work performance have been forwarded employees to the task force.”
However, the Secretary General affirms that the task force does not have the mandate to discharge him from his post.
Andualem told Capital that he has submitted his resignation, stating he has disagreements with some officials of the Chamber and that it was rather a forced resignation.
The Secretary General has not been on duty since January 18, 2007 but has been serving the Chamber in this post since the year 2000.
“I don’t have any contacts with the task force and I have not received any letter from it,” Andualem said. “They are not the ones who appointed me to the post in the first place and I do not see how they can take such a ridiculous decision.”
Andualem has a long experience of 20 years in the Chamber of Commerce. He studied Economics and International Trade Finance at the Addis Ababa University and later, at the University of Lanceister in the United Kingdom.
The Chambers’ appointees and resignations have been subject to controversy dating to late 2004, when the former President Berhane Mewa left to the United States when out on bail after charges of tax evasion. Aschalew Haile, who replaced Berhane in early November 2004, also resigned a few months ago after he was jailed in Assela for involving in political activity. The outgoing Secretary General has been serving as an acting president since then.
There are currently fifteen city chambers forming the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce. Kenol buys Shell elements for half a billion birr By Groum Abate
After consolidating its presence in East, Central and Southern Africa, oil marketer, Kenol/Kobil has arrived in Ethiopia.
The firm on Tuesday confirmed that it had acquired 81 retail stations one depot in Addis Ababa, which used to be ex-Agip , and another depot in Dire Dawa from Shell Ethiopia, after over six months of negotiations.
Kenol paid over 504 million birr for the acquisition of the stations.
The acquisition, includes two terminals and a retail network of service stations spread across the country.
The Group, through its Ethiopian subsidiary Kobil Ethiopia, has now bought 81 retail stations out of the total 270 stations of Shell Ethiopia, operations-effectively giving it the widest network in the region as the firm seeks to widen its market share.
Shell Ethiopia now becomes the group’s first major acquisition towards the North African region. The acquisition comes two years after the company opened a subsidiary in the country.
The news about the acquisition saw Kenol’s stock price at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) surge by Sh5.50 on Tuesday to trade at Sh105 from Sh99.50 the previous day.
A total of 23,800 shares were traded up from 18,061 shares traded on Monday. Shell Ethiopia is a member of Shell International Group.
Prior to the acquisition, Kobil Ethiopia had acquired one service station in Semera, along the Addis Ababa – Djibouti route. The new acquisition includes a head office in Addis Ababa consisting of a two-storey building, other office buildings, warehouses and a major restaurant situated on the main Debrezeit Road.
Through the acquisition, Kobil Ethiopia hopes to consolidate its fuels business in the country, as well as the sale of Kobil Lubricants and LPG brands. The company plans to put up an LPG storage and filling facility to supplement its LPG business in the country.
The Group’s initial regional expansion focused on East Africa, and most notably in Uganda and Tanzania. The Group then moved towards the Central and Southern African regions in 2002, into Zambia and Rwanda.
In Zambia, it made a major acquisition after buying entire assets of Jovenna Zambia Limited from Ned Bank of South Africa. In Rwanda, the firm started with wholesale business in 2002 and one station until February last year when it made an acquisition of Shell Rwanda SARL.
Last month it acquired 20 service stations from KLSS Rwanda.
"The new assets in Ethiopia are a rich investment in a country that has great potential and growth opportunities", said Mr Jacob I. Segman, the group chairman and managing director in a statement.
Although, the Ethiopian petroleum market is currently heavily regulated and with relatively low margins per unit, the group is optimistic of realizing good returns. Kenya bans Ethiopian meat By Groum Abate The government of Kenya has directed public health officers in Mandera District to arrest anyone found importing meat from the neighboring countries of Somalia and Ethiopia.
According to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), the order follows a government ban on the sale of animal products and quarantine on the movement of livestock after an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever disease in Garissa and Wajir Districts in Kenya.
KBC further reported that heads of departments and NGO's representatives in Mandera were told by area Medical Officer of Health that security officers would enforce the Public Health Act in order to contain the further spread of the killer disease.
Administrators appealed to the public to be patient and support the government in its efforts to curb a further spread.
With the largest livestock population in Africa, Ethiopia has an ample supply base for the export of live animals and meat. Its livestock resources are estimated at 27 million cattle, 24 million sheep and 18 million goats. Livestock husbandry is mostly carried out under natural grazing, making the meat and meat products obtained from the animals very tasty and nutritionally healthy for human consumption. Ethiopia's main exports of live animals and meat products include steers and yearlings; lowland sheep and goats; fresh and chilled lamb and mutton carcass; fresh and chilled goat carcass; fresh and chilled veal carcass and beef four quarter; fresh and chilled boneless veal and beef; frozen lamb, mutton and goat carcass and veal and beef special cuts. Private company to offer 5,000 jobs By Andualem Sisay Millennium 2000 Promotion Service, one of the many private partners of the National Ethiopian Millennium Festival Council, has on Thursday introduced ten projects worth 186 mln birr at the Global Hotel, which include creating job opportunities for 5,000 people across the country and building a vocational youth training center.
The Ethiopian Millennium is believed to create many opportunities for business. Out of the 200 projects presented to the National Council of the Ethiopian Millennium Secretariat, Millennium 2000 Promotion Service is the first to begin implementing its projects.
“We are happy,” says Mulugeta Asrate, Deputy Director General and Head of Communications and diaspora at the Ethiopian Millennium Festival National Council Secretariat, “to see Millennium 2000 Promotion Service as the first investor to make its projects official. We know that the others, who have already approved projects at hand, are also doing their level best to properly exploit the opportunities the millennium has provided them. And we also hope that they will also begin implementing their projects very soon.”
After the launching ceremony of his company’s Head Office at the Global Hotel building, Daniel Workshet, has also indicated his company’s hopes to make a difference in the lives of people who will be employed by the project.
Importing 200 three-wheeled cars to solve the transportation shortage that might occur during the two year long celebration of the millennium is one of the ten projects that Millennium 2000 Promotion Service is working on.
Displaying 365 billboards across the country, construction of a Millennium Vocational School in Addis Ababa, Millennium Greenhouse and Millennium Kid’s Corner are also among the projects that will be implemented by the company.
Millennium 2000 Promotion Service is hoping to conduct all ten projects within 19 months.
Recently, the Secretariat has approved 35 projects of the 200 which will be implemented at national level and is assessing the remaining. The Secretariat gives technical support and advice to private investors who have shown interest to work with the office. 200 houses for returnees Millennium 2000 Promotion Service is also seeking land for its Africa Millennium Village Project to construct 200 houses for returnee Ethiopians that are expected to join the Ethiopian Millennium festival.
The intention of the project is to support government efforts of encouraging Ethiopians who have lived abroad for a long time to return to their motherland and join their compatriots to take the country out of poverty.
“There are many wealthy and intellectual Ethiopians abroad, who have an interest in coming back home,” says Daniel Workshet, owner and Director of Millennium 2000 Promotion Service, “We need to support them to join us by providing them these houses at construction cost only. The Millennium Village is a symbolic historical corner stone for the future input of returning Ethiopians in changing our image of poverty once and for all.
According to Daniel, his company is planning to negotiate with the Addis Ababa City government to obtain free land for construction. “As our project is based on our government’s policy commitment that encourages returnee Ethiopians, we have no doubt that the city administration will approve our project and allocate us the necessary plot,” he said.
The aim of the Africa Millennium Village Project is to provide 200 houses for returning Ethiopians who would want to buy them while they are here for the festival. “Although the houses will not be completed at the beginning of the millennium festival, we will be able to finalize the first phase of the construction,” Daniel says. Hopefully, we will be able to deliver in the middle of the year 2000 EC.”
With technical assistance from the National Secretariat of Ethiopian Millennium Festival, Millennium 2000 Promotion Service is working on ten various projects that will cost altogether some 186 mln birr.
Bringing home ISO 9001/2000
ECBP awards Innovative Rural Housing champions By Andualem Sisay Engineering Capacity Building Program (ECBP), a more than 180 mln euros project financed by the German and Ethiopian governments, has launched a program on Tuesday, that will build the capacity of Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) and ultimately make the authority an internationally certified accreditation body.
The program that was launched on Tuesday evening at the Sheraton Addis is a component of Attaining National Quality Infrastructure among the major programs of ECBP, which includes university and technical and vocational education reform and private sector development among others.
Due to the need to join the international market and be competitive against imported goods, the number of Ethiopian companies who are looking for quality certification of ISO 9001 and ISO 2000 from foreign international certifiers is increasing.
“According to recent studies”, says Seifu Belay, National Quality Infrastructure Senior Program Officer at ECBP, “an Ethiopian company spends from 15,000 to 30,000 USD and takes from one to two years to obtain these international quality certificates. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to have such an international certifying body in the country to save resources and valuable production time.”
“We need to change our system of inspecting only final products, since the international trend demands us to see the management system or the procedures that the production of a product or a service goes through”, says Mesai Girma, Director General of QSAE. “To implement this, we need to build our capacity in terms of expertise and be certified by internationally accepted accreditors.”
International Accreditation Forum (IAF) is one of the international bodies who have the mandate to accredit national quality certifying bodies such as QSAE.
The process that leads national quality certifier bodies such as (QSAE) to be internationally accredited takes not less than three years. “But, since we have done a lot of background work in the past and we are currently directly working with the German consulting body, IAF, I believe we will be accepted in one or two years,” says Mesai.
At the end of the process, QSAE will be entitled to get certified to ISO 9001-2000 in all its functions. It will also be accredited in the area of production certification, and implement ISO/IEC 17025 for accreditation of its testing and calibration laboratories.
The Quality and Standards Authority is the National Standards Body of Ethiopia established in 1970 and became fully operational in 1972.
In a related development, ECBP yesterday Saturday February 10, concluded its competition of Innovative Rural Housing by awarding the allocated money for the winners of both Professional Architectures category and Student Architectures Category.
Bet Consulting Architecture and Tibebu Daniel won the first prize of Professional Architectures category and shared 100,000 birr. In the same category, Tilahun Bekele’s Architecture was chosen in third place and rewarded 30,000 birr.
In the Student Architectures Category, Zereay Wolde Senbet is awarded 30,000 by presenting the best architecture in the category. Lawi Birhanu and Haftom Girmay also received 20,000 and 10,000 birr prize for being second and third respectively in the same category.
Altogether ECBP has earmarked 240,000 birr for the competition. The competition ran from 23rd October, 2006 to 23rd January, 2007 with the aim of addressing the living condition of Ethiopia’s rural communities.
EXIM opens $65 mln credit line to Ethiopia By Eskinder Michael The Export Import Bank of India (EXIM) has opened a new line of credit to the Ethiopian government worth 65 million USD and payable in 15 to 20 years, Geeta V. Poojary, Deputy General Manager told Capital’s reporter in New Delhi on January 31, 2007.
EXIM opened this line of credit so that the Ethiopian government can support its Universal Electrification Project. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) is to use the money to build transmission lines to electrify about 400 rural towns across Ethiopia, according to its plan.
“The Ethiopian government has identified an Indian company, namely Overseas Infrastructure that would help in the electrification process,” Geeta added.
According to management, the bank’s aim is to try and improve the bilateral relationships between the two countries. Credit goes to specific projects. “Though we open credit for specific projects, we don’t determine which sector it goes to as that is up to the government. We do however follow up on the projects,” she said.
Geeta also said that the credit will be paid at an interest rate of 6-7 %.
This is not the first time for EXIM bank to extend credit lines as earlier it had opened six different lines of credit out of which four have already been repaid. The credit was opened through the PTA bank of India, where the EXIM bank will also collect its money, PTA will be responsible for securing the money from the Ethiopian government.
The bank currently has 11.8 billion USD worth of trade relationships with partners all over the world as compared to 5.5 billion USD 10 years ago. India’s total trade with Africa more than doubled during 2000-01 and 2005-06. The bank also has 1.5 billion USD credit lines world wide.
Though India and Ethiopia enjoy a strong and long standing bilateral relationship, Ethiopia is not placed among India’s top 12 trading countries in Africa. India is emerging as an important global investor, and as such its investment on the continent amounted to 2.4 billion USD from 1996 to 2006, accounting for 16.3% of India’s total outward investment.
The major areas of India investment interest are oil and gas, infrastructure development, telecommunications and rural electrification, transport, and educational and human resources development.
Employers Federation splits By Groum Abate The 3rd General Assembly of the Ethiopian Employers Federation which (EEF) aimed at exchanging views and sharing experiences on topical issues was interrupted after seven of the nine board members were sacked.
The fired board members then separately formed the Addis Ababa Employers Federation in the presence of Mayor Berehane Deressa of the Caretaker Administration of Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian Employers’ Federation, which had been banned in 1978 by the Derg military regime, was re-established in May 1997.
At the half-day forum at the Addis Ababa Hilton, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Hassen Abdela and ILO representative board members of the Federation walked out of the meeting, saying their rights were abused by the President and the Secretary General of the federation.
The Ethiopian Employers Federation was non-existent for about 20 years due to political changes in the country.
EEF President Teshome Zewde at the general assembly said that the federation has a function in good governance and poverty reduction national efforts by strengthening its collaboration with other stakeholders.
Teshome also said that employers should have well-designed policies which create a conducive environment among the employers and employees. He also urged employers to strive to maximize productivity by discussing with employees as well as the government using such opportunities.
However, other members of the federation noted that the said policy was designed by the president and the secretary of the federation only without consenting other board members.
The Ethiopian Employers’ Federation (EEF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to resolving peacefully and amicably problems related to labor relations and other social issues involved in the conduct of business. Its specific objectives include: Defending and promoting the interests of employees, promoting and maintaining good relationships between social business partners, accelerating the country’s socio-economic development, striving to promote social progress by creating new jobs, increasing productivity optimizing resource utilization and fostering industrial peace.
The Ethiopian Employers Federation recently received a 3,500sqm plot in Yeka District, Kebele 03 from the Addis Ababa Land Development and Administration Authority to build its headquarters that could cost up to 20 million Br.
The Federation has 190 members in Addis Abeba alone, including Ethiopian Airlines and MIDROC. Nationwide, it has 6,000 members. Of the 148 state owned enterprises that are under the Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency, 100 are members of the Federation. MIDROC sign collective agreement By our staff reporter Employers should help trade unions consolidate themselves and become supportive forces for the industrial sector, the Ethiopian Employers Federation said.
Speaking at the celebration of Company and Employees Day of Midroc Ethiopia Technology Group, federation representative Yohannes Beshah said strengthening trade unions and safeguarding the rights of their members will have a hugs contribution to boosting productivity.
Therefore Employers should help employees become organized under associations and support those already organized.
Midroc Ethiopia Chief Executive Officer Dr. Arega Yirdaw said on his part that Midroc Ethiopia adheres to a modern administrative system that respects the rights of workers. This in turn has helped create a good rapport between the organization and its employees, he added.
Since Midroc Ethiopia has long realized the benefits of organization of workers it has allowed its employees form trade unions, Dr. Arega said, adding that employees of eight companies, including the three latest that joined them yesterday have therefore concluded a collective agreement and are working accordingly.
He added that the signing of the agreement will help create a labor union that stands for the rights of the employees and realize new and modern procedures.
Industry Department Head with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Getaneh Mitiku, said good labor relations are vital for productivity and expressed the ministry’s readiness to consolidate such relations and find solutions when problems arise.
Midroc Ethiopia has more than 15,000 employees, it was learnt.
Starbucks is 'Flat wrong' in calling Ethiopia’s licensing efforts illegal By Groum Abate Top U.S. law firm Arnold & Porter LLP refutes Starbucks’ VP claim that signing a license agreement with Ethiopia would be against the law.
Starbucks is misleading the public by claiming that Ethiopia’s efforts to trademark its prized coffee brands and license international distributors are illegal, says Robert Winter. Winter is partner at the Washington DC-based law firm Arnold & Porter LLP which has been advising Ethiopia in these efforts. Winter stated publicly on February 9: “There is nothing illegal or unlawful about Ethiopia's program to obtain trademark protection for its coffee marks.” And he went on: “Moreover, there is nothing unlawful about Starbucks entering into a license agreement that acknowledges Ethiopia's trademark rights. To make this claim is flat wrong. Indeed, we believe that Ethiopia already enjoys effective trademark rights in its marks through widespread use of those marks for more than 75 years.”
Winter’s statement is a direct response to the claims by Dub Hay, Starbucks’ VP for coffee procurement, made on YouTube. This false claim is the latest in a series of misleading statements made by Starbucks since Ethiopia first approached the company in early 2005. Further, Starbucks’ representatives continue to state publicly that they know what is best for Ethiopian coffee farmers and refuse to acknowledge Ethiopia’s right to own and protect its valuable intellectual property in this way.
Ethiopia is reaching out to the specialty coffee industry worldwide with an invitation to enter into dialogue with the EIPO and to help shape a long term, mutually beneficial branding and distribution strategy for these coffees.
Of the current status of negotiations with Starbucks, Winter remarks: “Starbucks has expressed some concerns about the specific terms of the license Ethiopia has proposed and Ethiopia is prepared to enter into discussions to try to address those concerns, but there is no point in doing so while the company objects in principle to Ethiopia’s ownership of trademarks.”
“Ethiopia views trademark registrations as important business assets that will better enable it to manage the distribution of its coffees and to establish an effective distribution network”, Winter stated.
Ethiopia’s innovative Coffee Trademarking and Licensing Initiative is set to put Ethiopia’s producers and exporters on a more equal footing with their international buyers and improve the long-term market prospects for these coffee brands. Cooperation and support from buyers at this time demonstrates significant corporate social responsibility, given the critical importance of coffee income to more than 15 million people who earn their living by producing and supplying Ethiopian coffee. EEPCo-All hot by 2015? By Eskinder Michael The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has come out with an ambitious statement saying that Ethiopia would be 100% electrified by 2015.
Though the corporation has embarked on its Universal Electrification Project with a passion, its plan to fully electrify Ethiopia by 2015, the year that developing countries are expected to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sounds ambitious, say observers.
EEPCo recently commissioned the construction of Gilgel Gibe III, the biggest yet hydroelectric dam in Ethiopia, and a fourth installation to the project has also been discussed. In addition Ethiopia has been busy building several hydro, geothermal and wind power generation, distribution and transmission projects, including construction of five major hydroelectric power stations.
Ethiopia aims that with the completion of the Gilgel Gibe III will come the provision of electricity to almost half the population and there could even be room for export of energy. According to EEPCo, it plans to generate over 4000 MW by 2010.
After allowing local private electrical engineering companies take over some projects, the corporation plans to install 135,000 km of distribution lines as well as 12,000 km of high voltage networks to electrify 6,000 towns and villages, with the aim of enabling 50 % of the total population to access electricity.
A fortnight ago, EEPCo signed agreements worth 1 billion birr with 16 local electrical construction companies.
EEPCo General Manager Miheret Debebe signed the agreements for see 19 various projects that would enable to supply close to 400 rural towns with electricity.
The scheme that falls under the Rural Electrification Project, includes the manufacture and installation of concrete electric poles, which can provide service for half a century.
EEPCo is currently working towards attaining the power sector master plan, prepared by the Ethiopian government, EEPCo and the World Bank. However, the fact that Ethiopia’s population could grow as high as 100 million by 2015 could make EEPCO’s plans difficult to achieve. About 53 billion birr has been allocated for the nationwide power supply enhancement master plan sector for five years. The master plan would last for 25 years. The Tekeze power station which was planned to start giving service in the next Ethiopian fiscal year seems to have faced a snag and according to sources, will not be available with the intended period. The completion of this project would enable the corporation to increase its power generation considerably.
Four year old died with rape attempt By Andualem Sisay Last week a four year old girl passed away, in the middle of a rape attempt by a street vagabond in Nazareth. That morning, just before the incident, Wude Derege and her four year old daughter were selling gum, cigarettes and candy on the street in front of a hospital. All of a sudden, they heard a loud scream from the hospital and the mother went in to check what was going on, leaving her child and her goods on the street. But when the mother got back, her child was not there.
She searched all around but couldn’t find her daughter. The father came home from work in the afternoon and the search continued. Approximately fourteen hours had passed and still, the lost girl had not been found. The family and the neighbors had no choice other than spending a sleepless night in their home and to await the dawn to continue their search in other areas of the city.
The mother and father woke up on the first day ever with out their child by their bed side. Even though he wanted to continue searching for his beloved girl, the father had to go to another region for work to feed his family. Now it was up to the mother and the neighbors, along with the Police of Nazareth to look for the child. Areas of the city such as Menaheria, Egzear Ab, Bole, Silasewoch and Medhanialem were all scoured to no avail.
Late in the afternoon, when the tired mother approached her village hoping for good news about her child, she saw a big gathering. As the crowd began to look at her with pity, she realized that something terrible had happened to her little daughter. She penetrated the crowd and couldn’t believe what she saw. The dead body of her child was lying by the side of the railway. The police were trying to pull a stone out of the child’s mouth but were unable to do so. Finally, the stone was taken out by physicians after the body was taken to a nearby hospital.
Later on when the police tried to find out the cause of death, they discovered that the child was killed in the middle of a rape attempt by a street vagabond. The suspect, as he later confirmed, was for a long time a cigarette customer of the child’s mother. As his face was familiar to the child, he had no problem to take the child far away from the mother for his mad sexual act. He put the stone in to the girl’s mouth to keep her silent. But before he had even unzipped his trousers, the child had choked on the stone.
The suspect claims another cause for her death. “The child was dead because I hit her with a stone,” he said in his statement to police investigators. But, according to the investigation of the police as well as the physician’s, the cause for the kid’s death was the attempted rape.
“People who commit such acts on children are pedophiles, sick people who are satisfied with causing kids pain,” says Mekonen Belete, a psychologist and consultant at the Forum on Street Children, Ethiopia. “We classify them in the category of abnormal sex practitioners, including homosexuals and lesbians.” He describes spiritual and mental weakness or poverty as the main causes for the formation of such immoral people. Further more, he emphasized the passive nature of the people who don’t respond to the crime that is committed to another person until it directly knocks their door.
Junior Inspector Abebe Debele, on his part describes the weak statements by physicians who evaluate and report such cases and the statements of witnesses as some of the obstacles that hinder the judges to pass heavy sentences against these criminals.
According to the Ethiopian Criminal code, the highest sentence for rape can reach rigorous imprisonment of 15 years.
These days, rape is becoming more common in Ethiopia and ranges throughout society. It was this week that we heard about a Member of Parliament who lost his immunity due to alleged rape charges. Also this week, the Christian Science Monitor newspaper’s, Scot Baldauf, on his return to the US from Ethiopia, came up with a story of girls who are raped and beaten by forest guards while they gather fire wood from the eucalyptus forests of Entoto in Addis Ababa.
Speaker caps busy week
House strips MP’s immunity By Eskinder Michael The House of People’s Representatives, on Tuesday February 6, 2007, stripped the immunity of one Member of Parliament representing the All Amhara Unity Party who has allegedly raped a minor.
The House stating that it had received complaints that the MP had allegedly raped a 15 year old girl, revoked his parliamentary immunity so that he could be tried for the rape charges exclusively. His general immunity against being prosecuted for other potential cases still stands.
The MP voiced his concern over the allegation saying that it was some sort of attack on his stature. It was stated that the accused entered the house of the victim located in Kirkos Sub-City, Kebele 02 at 8:00 in the morning and allegedly commited the act.
The matter was however, strongly opposed by Ato Worku, an MP who contested the decision by the parliament, saying that the victim was actually not only 15 years old, but 18 and that she had been married while living in rural Ethiopia. He also said that this was supported by a police report.
In other news, Ambassador Teshome Toga, Speaker of the House of Peoples Representatives, hosted a parliamentary delegation from Germany and held discussions concerning women, the youth and population affairs.
The speaker emphasized on the fact that Ethiopia strives to ensure political empowerment to women and their active participation in national affairs. Teshome also expressed on how encouraging gains were being registered while trying to bring about gender equality in education, although much remains to be done.
“We are speeding up the construction of 13 new universities, and upon completion, the number of government owned universities will reach 21,” he said.
The speaker capped a busy week as he also hosted a British parliamentary delegation. Teshome, during the meeting said that the amended parliamentary procedures and members’ code of conduct were successful and would help in building a democratic system.
Ambassador Teshome gave the above statements as he addressed a team of donor country representatives about the study conducted to amend the proclamation, the methodologies followed in conducting sold study, and the results of the amended regulation.
Among the changes incorporated into the amended edict are the election of speakers, discussions on the president’s inaugural speech, question and answer time, opposition day as well as the addition of standing committees and the right of MPs to generate legislation motions.
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