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Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, is to launch cargo flights to Europe and the Middle East from airports in Bahirdar and  Mekelle.

The groundbreaking initiative is intended to promote investment in regional cities by allowing businesses located there direct access to international markets said Dereba Kuma, Minister of Transport.

The airline expects to provide cargo services for meat and horticultural products from these airports explained Dereba presenting the seven month performance report for the transport sector to the House of Peoples Representatives.

The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency of Ethiopia is expected to put up nine state owned farms for privatization in the next financial year. PPESA plans to privatize the farms on a full management agreement.

The nine farms to be privatized are the five farms operated by Arsi Agricultural Development Enterprise and the four managed under the Bale Agricultural Development Enterprise.

The AADE farms are Arba Gugu, Goffer, Garadila, Lole and Temela while the BADE farms consist of Sinana, Robe, Herero and Hunte farms.

The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency, Ethiopia cancelled the proposal to sell Awash Winery due to unsatisfactory bids.

The agency had cancelled four previous tenders for the winery for similar reasons.

The sole bid for the winery was an offer of 201 million birr received from the partnership between Mulugeta Kiros and Tigist Demeke. PPESA declined the offer as being lower than the minimum it had expected.

Ethiopia is in the process of negotiations with multinational retailer Walmart to facilitate the entry of the corporation in the Ethiopian market.

A delegation sent by the Ethiopian government met with officials from the US based corporation last week according to sources.

The Ethiopian government is considering the move to invite Walmart as part of ongoing efforts to curb the surge of commodity prices.