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Mercy Corps is to establish a 10 million US dollar private equity fund in Ethiopia to encourage foreign investment, primarily in agriculture, according to Dominic Graham, Country Director. Initial interest has been expressed by several American and British companies he said in a interview.

The non-governmental organization is seeking rapid growth which is why it opted for private equity as opposed to debt financing according to Graham.

This aim is not about incremental change but large steps to move the country from middle and poor income status within a short period of time.

Ethiopian Airlines celebrated its 1st anniversary as Star Alliance member in Addis Ababa. The airlines is working hard to expand its market share in the international Air service market said Yeshak Zeweldi Ethiopian Alliances and Strategic Plan Deputy President speaking at the event.

Joining the international alliance has helped Ethiopian to expand its market share and currently the airline is servicing more than 70 international destinations in four continents.

It is to be that Ethiopian Airlines, is showing the Logo of star alliance on all its aircraft since last December. Star Alliance officially welcomed Ethiopian airlines in a ceremony held on December 13 in Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian Council of Ministers is considering a new energy bill that will elevate the Ethiopian Electric Agency to an authority with additional regulatory authority and revenue generating capacity. The new bill will replace the one that has been in place for the last 15 years.

The new authority will be in charge of regulating energy conservation and efficiency, to set off grid tariffs, and to license private investors in electrical work according to the initial draft sent to the Ministry of Energy.

A board of five members has been suggested for the prospective authority should the bill be ratified.

An increasing number of local investors have shown interest on Ghion. The local investors were seen buying bid documents from Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency starting from last month.

As it to be remembered the agency issued the tender on November 23, 2012, for Ghion hotel with other four government agency.

Nine different companies have bought the bid document for Ghion Hotel, which the starting price set to be 1.7 billion birr according to sources.

Heineken Brewery, Dutch Brewers submitted a loan application for 3 billion birr to the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The loan is to be used for the construction of a new brewery in Addis Ababa and to expand the other two breweries - Harar and Bedele - that the international company has purchased in Ethiopia. The request was made before four weeks.

The new brewery plant to be constructed in Addis Ababa, to be named ‘Addis Green Field,’ Heineken requires a loan of 2.2 billion birr loan according to its loan proposal to the Commercial Bank according to Johan Doyer, general manager of Heineken Breweries SC.

If the loan is granted by the Bank Heineken will start producing its international brand beers right here in Addis Ababa.
The planned capacity of the new brewery is three million hectoliters per annum although it is expected to start with an initial production of 1.5 million hectoliters.

Ethiopia is to implement a unified billing system for water, telephone, and electricity as of the coming January.  

The new unified billing system is to be automated. The system was designed by Global Communication Solutions, an Ethiopian IT company, and NCR and AT&T, its partners from US. The project was undertaken by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology  in an agreement signed with the companies.
 

The implementation of the project starts from the coming month and aims at modernizing the bill collection system of Ethiopia.  The three governments offices that collect bills separately, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation , Ethio-Telecom,  and Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority have completed the installation and testing of the new system.

Ethiopian hotels to meet international quality standards to meet the anticipated competition from international hotels that are being franchised in Ethiopia it was said at a two day seminar organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and US based Consultancy Company, Global Hospitality Holdings.

The seminar was organized to call  independent Ethiopian hotels  to get ready for tough competition in the future specially in the areas of  management and E- marketing and the use of Information technology it was explained.
The current standard of hotels in Ethiopia will need to improve to compete with international franchises on all fronts it was noted.

The Ethiopian government announced plans to improve access and quality of Information and Communication Technology in the country.

The announcement was made in Addis Ababa on the 11th of December by Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael, Deputy Prime Minister at the 2nd annual conference of Ethiopian ICT Entrepreneurship held this week.

The government is working hard to expand the ICT infrastructure in the country he explained in his speech.

A national action plan on land registration and certification is to be launched in Ethiopia. It is said that the plan, intended to help landowners to obtain land and property rights, was prepared at a cost of 30 million pounds.

The financing for the project was secured from the Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development.

The plan was prepared in a collaborated effort of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and US Agency for International Development –Ethiopia.

The South African National Accreditation System awarded accreditation to the Ethiopian Leather Industry Development Institute.

The accreditation is expected to enable Ethiopian leather products to gain automatic acceptability at international markets like European Union. This accreditation will translate in the increased competitiveness of Ethiopian products internationally by serving as a verification of the quality and in terms of health effects as well as the quality of the manufacturing equipments and processes said Wondu Legesse Director General of Leather Industry Development Institute.