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The Ethiopian Ministry of Water & Energy has ordered additional photovoltaic solar panels for Africa's largest solar power project. The 3,700 solar panels, worth US$1.5 million will be supplied by a Chinese company, Poly Technologies.

The ministry has previously purchased 25,000 solar panels from the same company. The panels are currently being installed across six regional states of Ethiopia. The purchase has been financed by the World Bank.The project is funded by the US$130 million loan the International Development Association provided to Ethiopia's energy sector. Add a comment Add a comment

The Addis Ababa Trade & Industry Bureau and the Ministry of Trade announced the drafting a new regulation aimed at regulating the fruit market in the city, Fortune reported. The announcement is made by officials of the Ministry of Trade in a meeting held with stakeholders on Saturday, August 03, 2012 at the Ministry's Headquarters.

The new regulation is aimed at addressing soaring prices of fruit as a result of complex supply chain. Add a comment Add a comment

Nisir Micro Finance Institution, currently under formation, is set to join Ethiopia's financial sector becoming the first commercial micro-finance institution. After three years preparation, Nisir is planning to go operational with a paid-up capital of 15 million Ethiopian birr in mid December 2013.

The company floated 15,000 shares with a face value of 1000 birr each. The huge gap between the supply and demand of financial services has driven Nisir's establishment, whose focus is providing a need-based and swift credit facility, Michael Addisu, Project Manager and Lead Promoter of Nisir told Fortune. Add a comment Add a comment

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