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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.

The Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency of Ethiopia is to set up a new enterprise on palm oil refinery at projected cost of 401.1 million Birr. The refinery is to be built with the expectation that once completed the enterprise will have an annual production of 300,000 tons, as it stated by the officials of the Agency.

The production will be equal with the annual import order of the state owned enterprise, Merchandise and Wholesale Trade Enterprise which covers 80% of the national demand currently.

The agency has invited interested parties both domestic and international, to bid in a public tender, for the construction of a crude edible oil refinery plant on the two locations allocated by the government.

The Ethiopian Agro Industry Company, K & S Plc, signed a contract with the German owned Agro Industry Private Limited Company, Acazis Agro Industry, to launch an oil company for 8 million US dollars.

The raw material that is needed for the production of oil is intended to be produced on 6,000 hectares of land in the East and West Hararghe zones, Oromia region. The new partnership expects to produce 25,000 tons of ground nuts every year on the 6,000 hectares of ground to serve as raw material for the factory according to Francois Achour General Manager of Acazis Agro Industry plc.

The ground nuts can also be used by local industries. But it was also mentioned that there is a long term plan to export to China and India. But its  initial focus is on local market of Ethiopia and the exports are a long term plan when the production capacity grows.

International shoe brand Bata has opened its first store in Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. The venture in Ethiopia is a franchise of the Kenyan branch of the brand footwear.

Bata, in Ethiopia is owned by Habesha Cultural Center and Art Gallery plc owned by private investor Bedru Muzeyen. The local owner will the exclusive right to retail and distribute the Bata brand in Ethiopia and to utilize the business model used by the international company said a press release from Habesha Cultural Center and Art Gallery.

The term of the franchise agreement is designed for ten years explained Israel Getachew, Sales and Marketing Manager for the business.

The 150 shops made available for bidding at the Lideta site of the Addis Ababa condominium housing projects have attracted large amount of attention.

More than 14 thousand individual bids were received for the shop space with interest seen from a diverse range of parties including insurance companies and banks.

The current round of bids attracted a record 56 thousand birr per meter square at the tender floated by the city administration for the Ethiopian capital at a floor price of 6 thousand six hundred birr.

The earnings that Ethiopia expects to receive from the export of spices, pulses and oilseeds are projected to increase by a third to an estimated 900 million US dollars in the current fiscal year.

The increase in revenue is related to incentives offered to investors in the sector including land for processing and warehousing and the waiving of duties related to import and export said Haile Berhe President of the Ethiopian Pulses, Oil Seeds and Spices Processors-Exporters Association.

The association is confident that the incentives will enable exporters to export as much as is made available he added.

Nib International Bank awarded Ethiopian Exporters at an even held at the Addis Ababa Sheraton Hotel. The bank awarded 56 exporters with trophies and certificates which have been a significant customer base for the bank according to Amerga Kassa, president of NIB.

Foreign exchange from exporters is the most dependable source for the bank above other sources such as remittance, aid etc he noted.

The current shortage of foreign exchange is due to the significant gap between import and export trade in the country according to Amerga.

Ethiopia has launched the export of electric power to the Republic of Sudan. The corporation began test export four weeks ago along the Gadarif Galabat electric power transmission line according to Mihret Debebe, Chief Executive of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

It is expected that the power transmission line will be inaugurated by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Sudanese President Omar Albashir.

The transmission makes Sudan the second country after Djibouti to import power from Ethiopia.