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Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desaleng said, Ethiopia is eager to further strength ties with Kenya in the areas trade and investment, Ethiopian News Agency reported. The premier said this during his discussions on Wednesday, 31 July, 20013 with Kenyan business delegates who arrived in Addis Ababa.

He also said  it is timely to implement the special status agreement signed between Ethiopia and Kenya in 2012. The Premier further explained the need for the two countries to create strong economic ties to maximize the real benefit of investment exchange. Hailemariam also said, Ethiopia is undertaking massive infrastructure and energy development efforts as part of its commitment in the implementation of the special status agreement.  Add a comment Add a comment

Ahmed Abetew was appointed as chairman of the board of directors of the Development Bank of Ethiopia.  Ahmed, who succeeded Mekonen Manyazewal as Minister of Industry few weeks ago, will now also replace Mekonen as chairman of the state owned-bank. Mekonen’s replacement came only three weeks after his appointment. Mekonnen is also chair of the board of the country's central bank, National Bank of Ethiopia.

Previously, Ahmed was deputy administrator of the Amhara Regional State and headed the region’s Industry & Urban Development Bureau. Since 1992, he has headed several bureaus within the Amhara region, including trade, industry development and urban development bureaus, as well as the Finance & Economic Development Bureau.

Indian companies are planning to establish  opal processing plants in Ethiopia following a ban on the export of raw opal earlier this month. Until the ban was imposed 86 percent of of Indian opal was sourced from Ethiopia.

Several Indian companies have showed their interest in building opal processing plants  in Ethiopia, according to the reports of The Reporter. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Insurance Corporation is re-invite  architects for the design its new headquarters building. The building will be located in front of the Ambassador Theater.

The project was planned six years ago and the contract was awarded to Varnero, but was subsequently rejected by the board of the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation. The re-invitation for architects is due to the intention of the company to increase the height of the building and improve the standards, sources told The Reporter reported. Add a comment Add a comment

Turkish textile and garment companies are planning to move their factories to Ethiopia, with the assistance of Ayka Addis Textile and Investment Group, a Turkish company that made the same move three years ago.

Ayka submitted a proposal for the relocation of several Turkish textile and garment companies to the Ministry of Industry which has been already accepted. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa launch a new breeding program for five Ethiopian grain crops.

The initiative - ‘Seed System Enhancement through Development of Improved Varieties of Maize, Tef, Sorghum, Soybean and Faba bean in Ethiopia’ - will run for three years is said to  make a significant contribution to enhance household food security and incomes. Add a comment Add a comment

AG Consult Water Technology Training Center, Ethiopia’s only privately-owned water technology training center inaugurated training facilities. The company announced the launching of its full-scale training facilities at an even held in Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa in the presence of government officials and experts in the sector.

Kebede Gerba, State Minster of Water and Energy, who attended the event, told Capital that the training centre has a role to feed trained experts to the sector, in parallel with the government scheme. Add a comment Add a comment

A business delegation from the Chinese Foshan City visited Ethiopia. The delegation discussed with Ethiopian businesses, government officials and officials from the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association (ECCSA) at Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa.

Legesse Geremew, Councillor at the Ethiopian Consulate at Guangzhou,  said that the delegation came to Ethiopia after the consular office organized a tour to Foshan province last October.

The fourth round of the City's land lease auction held on July 24, 2013 attracted bids as high as 26,202 Ethiopian Birr for a square meter, Fortune reported.

The latest auction is the fourth round since the enactment of the revised lease holding of urban lands law in 2012. The Addis Ababa Land Bank and Transfer Agency announced a tender for auctioning of 95 plots on 40,000 meter of land on July 9, 2013. The plots were located in Akaki Kaliti, Bole, Yeka, Kirkos, Arada and Kolfe Keranio districts of the city. Add a comment Add a comment

The U.S Embassy in Ethiopia has organized a  one day business to business matchmaking program which  will take place on August 9, 2013. The even will also coincide with the 2013 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum which will be held from August 9-13 in Addis Ababa. 

The matchmaking event is aimed to create opportunities for participants to meet with several potential U.S businesses who are looking for Ethiopian partners, wholesalers, distributors, sales representatives.The event is open to Ethiopian companies in all sectors, however, it will particularly focuses on agriculture.