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A conference under the theme of ‘Making the Connection: Value Chains for Transforming Small holder Agriculture’ was held at the UNECA late last week.

The conference hosted by the ACP-EU, Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation and the African Economic  Commission was attended by delegates from various countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The conference was organized to encourage action on the issue of value chain which has been a focus of discussion for a long time with the view of creating connections between resource constrained farmers and large corporations said Micheal Hailu, Director of the CTA.

The Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency is to put six publicly owned enterprises as part of its aim to raise 1 billion birr this financial year by privatizing state owned enterprises to private investors.

The six companies being put up for privatization are the Arbagugu Coffee Plantation, Awash Wine Share Co, Bilito Siraro, Commercial Printing Enterprise, Construction Works and Coffee Technology Development Enterprise, and Hamaressa Edible Oil Share Co according to Wondafrash Assefa, Spokesman for the PPESA.

Investors can bid for the six companies until the 20th of December he noted. The plan is to privatize all publicly owned enterprises except those regarded to be strategic he said.

The first International Conference on Ethiopian Coffee organized by the Ministry of Trade, the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association in partnership with USAID and the commercial bank of Ethiopia was opened in Addis Ababa.

The conference is being held under the theme of ‘Strengthening the Legacy of Our Coffee’ and aims promote Ethiopian Coffee on the international market. It is expected to facilitate the exchange of experience among stakeholders and enhance the transfer of information so as to allow the coffee sector to take advantage of key opportunities and resolve challenges.

More than 15 million Ethiopians are directly and indirectly with the coffee sector according to Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn speaking at the opening. Ethiopia enjoys a comparative advantage in trading coffee which has allowed the nation to trade more volume and to increase its increase share of the global market and to enhance the export income he said.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade is doing trial runs for Online Trade Registration and Licensing System. The 300 million birr project was initiated by the federal government and is expected to be launched on a national level.

The software for the OTRLS program, which would replace the current manual business registration process, was developed by Custor Computing plc at a total cost of 1 million birr. The online system will not require applicants for a new business license or those seeking renewal of licenses to appear in person at the ministry offices except to pick up the physical copy of the license issued.

The new system allows a person to log into the system to obtain information on the requirements for a particular type of business license or for renewal. The individual can then go on to fill out the appropriate form and attach scanned copies of supporting documentation such as there Tax Identification Number and business details.