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Ethiopia and Vietnam discussed collaboration on Ethiopia’s accession to the World Trade Organization when Le Luong Minh made a visit to Ethiopia this week.

A team of technical experts from Ethiopia had previously visited Vietnam for advice on World Trade negotiations. The team also discussed ways to enhance trade in agriculture and textiles.

There are many potential areas for cooperation between the two countries noted Le Luong.

The windfall tax Ethiopia collected from commercial banks after the devaluation of the birr last year is to be used to supplement the budget of the Ethiopian Roads Authority and the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development allocated 3 billion birr the ERA and 1 billion to the MoE. The bill allocating the supplementary budget was approved by the Council of Ministers and referred it the House of Peoples Representatives which referred it to the Budget and Financial Affairs Standing Committee.  

If the committee approves the supplemental budget ERA’s budget will increase to 20.5 billion which is 177% more than the 7.1 billion birr the authority was allocated in 2008-09.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, is to launch flights to Sao Paulo in Brazil as of this summer.

The airline is contemplating the direct flight to Brazil due to the emergence of the Latin American country as one of the prominent members of the world economic scene.

Ethiopian expects a significant number of travelers to Brazil including business travels and those traveling to the various tourist destinations in Brazil.

Emirates Airlines is committed to a daily cargo flight from Dubai to Ethiopia increasing its potential freight capacity to 15 tons per flight according to the airline management.

Ethiopia has a growing industrial sector which is expected to grow significantly and hence increasing the local market for the cargo services offered by the airline Abdalla Al Zamani, Emirates Manager to Ethiopia.   

Emirates counts flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shangahi amongst the 120 international destinations. These destinations are important to Ethiopian and Chinese business people for import and investment purposes to facilitate trade, strengthen business ties and to encourage engagement and tourism said Al Zamani.