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The Ethiopian Quality Awards organization will honor nine organizations selected for excellence in Ethiopia. The award ceremony will be held on Sunday April 8 at the Addis Ababa Hilton Hotel.

The nine organizations to be awarded the excellence trophy will be announced on the day of the event said Dr. Admasu Tsegaye, Board Chairman of EQA.

150 organizations expressed an initial interest in the competition this year and took application forms he noted. The competition was open to those in manufacturing and construction sectors as well as both for profit and non profit service providers.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, launched non stop flights from Addis Ababa to Seychelles as of the 1st of April.

The airline is pleased to begin services to Seychelles famous for its beauty and the home of two UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites; the world’s largest raised coral atoll and Praslin’s Vallée de Mai, said to be the site of the original Garden of Eden according to Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian.

The Ethiopian Airlines flights between Ethiopia and Seychelles will be mutually beneficial said Alain St. Ange Seychelles’ Minister for Culture and Tourism.

A website, www.rootsofethiopia.com, designed to showcase and promote various community products for tourism was launched at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

The website is intended to support the plans to make Ethiopia a notable tourist destination said Tadelech Dalecho, State Minister for Culture and Tourism at the launch.

The Ministry is committed to collaborate with stakeholders in the sector to implement the Tourism Policy which seeks to make Ethiopia amongst the top 5 tourist destinations in Africa by 2020 she said.

The Revenue and Customs Authority of Ethiopia has announced the reduction of the 20 million birr capital requirement set for IT companies interested in supplying electronic cargo devices to 5 million birr.

ERCA reevaluated the former directive which required a company to have 20 million birr in capital, a five year contract with a major IT supplier, and present a performance bond worth 2 million birr to certify as a vendor for the tracking devices as many in the domestic IT sector protested the criteria.

The current amendment to the directive not only lowers the capital requirements by 75% but it also allows assets of the company to be considered as capital. ERCA also offered a bank guarantee of a similar value as an alternative to the 2 million birr insurance bond required by the directive.