The government has set to suspend the import of edible oil as of the beginning of Ethiopian New Year after local pressers are at a final stage to commence massive production.

Eshete Assfaw, State Minister of Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), told Capital that under the government’s plan as of October 10 the country will fully stop oil import.

“Until the end of September we will continue to import the product, and in this period local pressers will finalize their preparation with the direct support of the government,” he added.

He reminded that the government conducted frequent meetings with potential big producers to commence their operation as soon as possible. “We have conducted several discussions and even directly visited the sites that are located in eastern Ethiopia and Amhara region,” he says “we want to see a crucial shift on the sector.”

Early this week Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that the government is working to substitute the import of basic commodities like wheat and edible oil by local production. He said that the wheat production that expanded in these two years will enable the government to stop the import of wheat fully that consume close to a billion dollar every year.

At the same time he said that the local oil producers that are at the final stage of the project will enable the country to replace the import by local production.

Sources told Capital that few weeks ago the government has approved foreign currency for pressers to import crude oil.

“Currently the country imports 40 million liters of edible oil every month, while in our evaluation local producers will commence operation as of August and some of them will commence operation until September,” Eshete said.

Starting from August foreign currency that is now allocated for the import of final product will be shifted to producers, according to the State Minister.

Besides ShemuPLc, which is located in Dire Dawa, industries are being constructed in Bure and Debremarqos by Belayneh Kinde and WorkquAytenew that does have a huge capacity that will use local oilseeds and import crude oil as input. East Africa Holding, Hamaressa Presser, located in Harar is also the other promising industry.

“Because of the current status we are confident that the import of final product will be fully suspended as of October 10,” Eshete underlined.

The country allocates about half a billion dollar for oil import per annum.

Ethiopian Airlines resumed its international passenger flights after more than three months of break due to the suspension of international passenger travel with the fear of spreading the corona virus.

According to Ethiopian Airlines the airline starts to fly to more than 40 destinations in July. From these Vienna, Cairo, Malabo, Marseille, Athens, Milan, Rome, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Antananarivo, Rossi be, Oslo, Hargesa, Juba, Geneva, Istanbul, Dubai, New York, and Zambia are included.

Sources told Capital that the airline is getting ready to start its full passenger flights in August and September.

Last week Ethiopians were one of the 10 countries allowed to enter in the European Union territory as the boarders of EU reopened in July. Besides Ethiopians, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are included in the list.

On March 31 Ethiopian airlines announced that it had suspended passenger flights to 80 destinations around the world however because of the surprising spread of the pandemic in the last three months the airline has cut off 90 percent of its international passenger destinations out of its 110 destinations and focus on cargo, maintenance services and charter flights.

The corona virus that originated in Wuhan, China in December has spread to all countries and regions all over the world.

Ethiopian Airlines is already bracing for income loss of half a billion dollars and has axed most of its scheduled passenger flights, but is turning to cargo and charter operations to soften the blow.

In the first three months of the 2020 the airline has announced 550 million dollar in revenue loss although the losses reached one billion dollar in six month starting from January up to June.

Focusing on cargo flights has enabled the airline to recover from the crises after that outbreak of the pandemic.

According to recent reports the Airline has make 120 million dollar revenue in a month from cargo services which enabled the state owned aviation group to cover all its monthly expenses.

Since the air transport is critical to economic and sustainable development in the region recently the air transport association has called on governments in Africa to rapidly implement ICAOs global guideline for resorting air connectivity to ensure the safe and harmonized restart of the aviation in the region.

SITA, the technology provider for the air transport industry, sheds new light on how technology is helping airports and airlines to safely resume operations and help implement new hygiene measures to restore passenger confidence after a lengthy shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking after the Aviation Week webinar event Sebastien Fabre, Vice-President Airline & Airport, SITA said “the past few weeks have seen airlines across the globe tentatively take to the skies. This is reflected in the resumption in activity across our network and improved baggage volumes, up 55% month-on-month in May where volumes were at a record low.”

However, Fabre noted that recovery would be slow. “Our industry must transform the passenger experience to increase traveler safety while balancing economic pressures from slow customer demand. To successfully walk this tightrope and navigate a return to the skies for viable volumes of passengers, airports and airlines need to assimilate new information from governments and health officials, adapt operations immediately and automate processes permanently.”

SITA has introduced solutions that allow passengers to use their mobile device as a remote control for touchpoints such as self-bag drop and check-in kiosks, removing the need to touch any airport equipment. “For example, at San Francisco Airport, SITA Flex which in the future will enable a full mobile and touchless passenger journey. This means travelers can print bag tags from their mobile phone on self-service bag points,” added Fabre.

He noted that technology would be fundamental in helping airlines and airports to be compliant with new and fast-changing regulations to restore passenger’s confidence in flying. New preventive measures aimed at limiting risk in the airport and onboard will require a new approach to passenger management.

Fabre stated that SITA was rapidly rolling out new solutions that addressed the above challenges, complementing short term hygiene measures such as the use of masks and gloves. These solutions centered on three key areas, distancing, hygiene and sanitation and health checks.

He noted for the airports that are not equipped with the native mobile platform, SITA uses technology to remotely control self-service devices such as kiosks with a mobile phone, removing the need to touch any airport equipment.

Speaking at the webinar, Jeremy Springall, Vice-President Border Management, SITA said “we are seeing specific regions wishing to allow limited movement within zones first, for example, the trans-Tasman bubble. For governments, this requires an information-driven approach based on real-time data and responsiveness to handle rapidly changing situations.”

“A critical element will be for governments to harmonize the approach to checking the validity of health status and sharing this information effectively. Many governments are taking a layered approach to border management, starting well in advance of travel, to identify high-risk passengers before arrival in the destination country, in turn easing the restrictions for low-risk travelers. It’s crucial that health checks in terms of a health ETA or declaration are performed, perhaps up to 72 hours before departure. We’re already starting to see this happen around the world in countries like Thailand and Singapore.”

Springall noted that SITA has been supporting governments around the world to adapt their Advance Passenger Processing pre-clearance checks in support of COVID-19, for example with a South American airport during the early part of the pandemic SITA was able to support them stop passengers from high-risk countries check-in to their flights.

Springall also highlighted how SITA has helped airports identify passengers arriving from high-risk areas who would then be asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Later SITA adapted operations to identify travelers who were sitting in the rows around these passengers during a flight so adequate protocols could be applied to those passengers as well.