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Ethiopian Airlines is planning to buy or lease up to six more 787 Dreamliner passenger jets by 2018 as it expands its destinations in Asia and South America, its CEO told Reuters.

"We are looking at another five or six by 2017/18. We always maintain a 60/40 percent balance, with 60 percent owned and 40 percent leased," Tewolde Gebremariam said on the sidelines of a global airline industry conference.

Awash International Bank has raised its paid-up capital to one billion Ethiopian birr,  double the minimum paid up-capital requirement of the National Bank of Ethiopia set to be achieved by all banks in mid 2016. AIB's total capital, and reserves currently stands at two billion birr.

In November 2012, shareholders of AIB has approved  a decision to raise the banks paid up capital to 1.5 billion birr within the next two years to help strengthen the capital base of the bank and support its expansion. Add a comment Add a comment

The ICT Center of Excellence and the Ministry of Communication and Technology launched the annual ICT Ethiopia competition on Thursday May 30, 2013 at Hilton Hotel.

"We are pleased to launch this competition, which we believe will help us achieve our goal of positioning the country at the forefront of development in ICT" Debretsion Gebremichael.

Ethiopia and Italy signed a three-year 2013-2015) cooperation framework agreement amounting to 98.9 million Euros on 30 May, 2013, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The agreement will focus on agriculture, rural development, and provision of basic services.

Finance and Economic Development State Minister Ahmed Shide and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Lapo Pistelli signed the agreement. Add a comment Add a comment

The Addis Ababa City Administration collected more than 176 million birr from auctioning 58 plots at the third round land lease auction.

Plots allocated for residence purpose attracted the highest bid in the latest auction round opened the past week. A 173sqm plot for residence around Ayat Real Estate area bring 12,875 Ethiopian birr per sqm.

Most of the plots auctioned in Bole sub-city fetched over 9,000 birr per sqm. The least price offered in this sub city being 8,195 birr per sqm for a 175 meter square plot of land.

Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen  invited more Chinese investment in Ethiopia while meeting with Chinese business persons in  Beijing.

The Deputy PM was in Beijing representing African Union (AU) Chairperson Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to be part of the 50th Anniversary of the Organization of African Unity/African Union,held in Beijing, China. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia and Japan signed a document concerning Bilateral Offset Credit Mechanism on Monday May, 27, 2013 in Addis Ababa. Finance and Economic Development State Minister Ahmed Shide and Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Hiroyuki Kishino signed the document.

The partnership is aimed at contributing to international efforts to prevent global warming by cooperating in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions between the two countries through the mechanism.

Ahmed on signing ceremony said the document will strengthen financial and technological support to activities being carried out to reduce carbon emission and build green economy. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Ministry of Trade (MoT) is reviewing a draft regulation to implement the Mandatory Standards Proclamation of 2003.

The Ministry held a discussion on May 23 to 24, 2013, at Kaleb Hotel,  with stakeholders from the Ethiopian Standard Agency (ESA), Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise, Ethiopian Accreditation Office and the National Meteorology Institute. Add a comment Add a comment

The Brazilian Development Bank will extend USD 1 billion in funding to construct a portion of the railway project that will connect Ethiopia and  South Sudan, an Ethiopian Foreign Ministry official said.

Brazil's Andrade Gutierrez Participacoes SA  will be contracted to build the railway link running from Addis Ababa, to Jimma about 439 kM to the southwest, Taye Atskeselassie, director general for the Americas at the ministry, said in an interview on May 24. Add a comment Add a comment

The Southern Regional State of Ethiopia Culture and Toursim Bureau announced it has earned over 145 million Ethiopian Birr from more than 600,000 tourists who visited religious, natural, cultural and historical sites in the region during the last nine months.

Seblework Abebe,  Government communication Officer with the the bureau said more than 500,000 of the visitors are Ethiopians.