2merkato

Mauritius leads Africa    

Ethiopia ranked 121st out of 125 countries on the fifth annual Global Innovation Index released by the INSEAD business school. European countries dominated the top 11 economies on the list, and more than half of them are in the northern regions of the continent.

The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority's (ERCA) Large Taxpayers and Western Addis Ababa branch offices are relocating this month from the headquarters building of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association to the authority's former headquarters at Beklo Bet.

The Large Taxpayers and Western Addis Ababa branch offices of the ERCA have been occupying five floors of the Chamber's building.

ERCA's central server for the registration of daily sales coming from customers' cash register machines had been installed in the Chamber's building in front of the Mexico Square. The central cash register machine server will move to the authority's current headquarters at Megenagna, officials said.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT) is set to complete the registration of around 231 tour operators by July 7 for the standardization of the companies by rating them from grades one to three.

Tour operators are required to fulfil a list of qualifications based on which they will be rated first, second or third degree operators.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is scheduled to visit Ethiopia, South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo from July 2 through July 11. The president will visit Ethiopia on July 8.

He is expected to discuss ways to expand cooperation with Ethiopia and the other African countries over various areas like nuclear power, energy and raw materials, his office said in a statement today.