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Domestic Ethiopian Petroleum vendor Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum announced profits lower than what it had earned in the previous fiscal year.

The petroleum company reported 5.5 million birr in net profit for the last financial year at the annual General Assembly of Shareholders held at the Hilton Hotel. The profit it reported was 12.5 million birr lower than the 18.7 million birr it had declared for the year before.

YBP retailed 262.1 million liters of petrol and 1.72 million liters of oil from which it collected 4.5 billion birr. The total sales of the company showed an increase of 31 percent (1.5 billion birr) from its performance in the previous year. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Railway Corporation is to terminate its consultancy agreement with Swedish National Road Consulting according to sources.

The subsidiary of the Swedish Transport Administration officially stopped operations on the Sebeta-Mei’so-Dewale railway project it was learned.

The consultancy agreement was terminated on the basis of the corporation’s agreement with Chinese Import-Export Bank, which is financing the project according to Debo Tunka, Deputy Chief Executive of the Infrastructure Division of ERC. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation has struck a 120 million US dollar agreement with British company Cambridge Industries Limited to construct what it refers to as the first Sub-Saharan Africa Waste-To-Energy facility.

The agreement signed last week at the Addis Ababa Hilton Hotel contracts for the construction of a facility with the capacity to generate 50 Mega Watts of power.

The project is to be fully financed by funds from the Ethiopian government it was learned. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethio Telecom is to change it logo to one that better expresses the company and reflects its role in the country said Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information and Communication.

The current logo introduced early last year is also similar in design although different in color to the logo used by European company, Euroclean which makes the change desirable he noted.

The similarity in design is probably the most important reason why Ethio-telecom is changing its logo according to sources. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia is preparing to successfully host the 2013 African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum announced the Ministry of Trade.

Committees, charged with the task of coordinating the preparation for the forum at various levels, have already been created and are expected to commence with laying the ground work for the meetings according to  Amakele Yimam, Director of the Corporate Communication Directorate with the Ministry of Trade.

The ministry has also opened lines of communications with two of the other six African countries who have already had the chance to host the AGOA Forum said Amakele. The ministry expects to learn from the experiences of the two countries, Zambia and Kenya to support Ethiopia’s opportunity to host this event he noted. Add a comment Add a comment

France Telecom handed over the administration of Ethiopia Telecom back to Ethiopian authorities this week. Domestic management took over the administration of the telecommunications corporation after two and a half years at the end of the contract reached between the French corporation and the Ethiopian government.

Some of the French management team will remain to provide support for the next few months according to sources.

Telecom coverage in the country grew from just 8% to 25% under the French management of the telecommunication provider it was noted. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Council of Ministers has ratified the directive proposing to establish a Chemical Industry Corporation. The corporation is intended to oversee chemical industrial development under the administration of the Ministry of Industry.

The Ethiopian government has allocated more than 21.7 billion birr for the establishment of the corporation said Melaku Taye, Director of the Corporate Communications Directorate. An estimated 5.4 billion birr has already been used in the process of establishing the new corporation according to Melaku.

The Chemical Industry Corporation will be in charge of setting up factories to produce products from the rubber tree as well as fertilizers, cements and a range of chemical products for the domestic market and for export. Add a comment Add a comment

Buna International Bank Share Company, Ethiopia opened its 25th branch in Gambella Regional State. The bank decided to open a branch office in Gambella because of the significant investment and trade activities in the state said Marshal Fikremarkos, Chairperson of the Board of Bunna International Bank.

The branch will also help facilitate remittance and investment efforts by natives of the region he noted.  

The new bank branch is expected to help expedite investment activities as well as to create more employment opportunities in the region according to Tomas Tut, Head of the State Chief’s Office and cabinet Affairs Head. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia is ready to sue Dutch company Vennootschap Onder Firma (VOF) for violating the access and benefit sharing agreement reached between the country and Health Performance and Food International for teff resources according to Berhanu Adello, Director General of the EIPO.

EIPO will be filing suit in a German court because Germany was the only country who opposed the patent granted the Dutch company by the European Patent Office. If Ethiopia wins the case in Germany it would then be applicable in all European countries.

A committee made up of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IBC and EIPO has already appealed to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to revoke the patent on teff said Berhanu. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency announced that it projects a harvest of 229.4 million quintals from agricultural activity in 2012.

The amount projected for the current harvest is 10.5 million quintals more than what was harvested in the previous year according to the season harvest forecast report presented by Samia Zekaria, Director General of the CSA.

The increase in the forecast is expected from major staple crops and is said to be due to the increased use of agricultural inputs by farmers she explained. Add a comment Add a comment