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The Revenue and Customs Authority of Ethiopia has announced the reduction of the 20 million birr capital requirement set for IT companies interested in supplying electronic cargo devices to 5 million birr.

ERCA reevaluated the former directive which required a company to have 20 million birr in capital, a five year contract with a major IT supplier, and present a performance bond worth 2 million birr to certify as a vendor for the tracking devices as many in the domestic IT sector protested the criteria.

The current amendment to the directive not only lowers the capital requirements by 75% but it also allows assets of the company to be considered as capital. ERCA also offered a bank guarantee of a similar value as an alternative to the 2 million birr insurance bond required by the directive.

Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency (EHDA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with International Saudi Agriculture (ISA) so as to enable the latter exporting organic banana to Saudi Arabia.

While signing the agreement, the Director General of EHDA Haileselassie Tekie said the agreement will enable Ethiopia to secure more than 100 million USD from the export of 60,000 tons of organic banana to Saudi Arabia within six months.

The agreement will benefit up to 30,000 small holder farmers directly or indirectly involved in the cultivation of organic banana by getting a better market price for the product. Besides, the export will create jobs for lots of compatriots in Arba Minch and the nearest localities in the SNNPs.

The recent discovery of oil in Kenya is indicative for oil exploration in Ethiopia based on the geographical similarities of the two countries according to experts.

Tullow Oil, which extended its exploration activity to Kenya and Ethiopia after discovering oil in Uganda’s Lake Albert Rift Basin, expects to drill the first well in Ethiopia in the third quarter of 2012.

It is expected the first well will be drilled in September according to an expert with the Tullow office in Ethiopia.

The Ministry of Transport, Ethiopia is increasing the number of custom warehouses for use in multi-modal transport across the country.

The National Bank of Ethiopia authorized banks to open letters of credit for their clients to ship to the new warehouses operated by the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority, according to a letter circulated by the bank.

The letter sent out from the central bank indicated that 10 new warehouses in various parts of the country have set up to facilitate the multi-modal transport system.

The Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Technology Institute, is seeking to export meat directly from Ethiopia to China.

Ethiopian meat including all internal organs is currently being exported to China via Vietnam but entering the Chinese market directly will be a significant development said Gedey Gebre Medhin, Director of the institute.

The institute has been dealing with problems associated with delays in the slaughtering process as well as seeking new export destinations said Gedey.

TAF Oil outbid several established vendors in the sector to acquire a fuel supply contract for Anbessa City Bus Services Enterprise, Ethiopia estimated to be worth almost 500 million birr.

Anbessa announced the winner of the bid in a letter addressed to TAF on the 29th of March.

The company will supply more than 26 million liters of benzene, Nafta and 500 thousand liters of other lubricants and greases over two years from the signing of the contract according to sources. It is expected that TAF will earn an estimated 484 million birr over this time.

The Tendaho Drinking Water Supply Project, Ethiopia is 90% complete according to Kumelachew Abebe, Communications and Public Relations Process Owner with the Ethiopian Water Works Construction Enterprise.

The project is expected to take 97 million birr and will be utilized by the nomadic Afar peoples and the employees of the Tendaho Sugar Development project, a total of almost 70,000 people in the area around the project.

The Tendaho Dam and Irrigation Project management buildings, also being constructed by the EWWCE, are also 90% complete at an estimated cost of 200 million birr said Kumelachew.

A resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council to enact further sanctions on Iranian assets is expected to delay Ethiopia’s bid to export electricity to Sudan as the construction of substations and the supply of equipment had been awarded to Iran Power & Water Export of Equipment & Services Company in an international bid.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation and IPWEESC had subsequently reached an agreement fro the completion of the project in 18 months, with a 41 million US dollar loan from the World Bank providing the financing and an ultimate aim of exporting 100MW of electricity to Sudan commencing in May 2012. 

The Board of Directors of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association is to request land from the city administration of the Ethiopia's capital to construct its headquarters reported sources.

The board of the AACCSA reached the decision to build its own headquarters three months after the resolution between it and the national chamber over the ownership of the seven-storey building housing both chambers.

The leaders of both chambers decided that the building will be owned by the national chamber with the AACCSA making using of two floors free of charge.

The Ministry of Mines, Ethiopia and the Mines Bureau of Chongqing State, China are to collaborate in the preparation of a range of maps for mining investment in Southern and Southwestern Ethiopia.

The partnership grew out of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ethiopian Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines & Minerals Exploration Development of China late last year.

Geological experts from the Chinese Mines Bureau conducted a preliminary study and presented a project proposal to the MoM led by Minister Sinkinesh Ejigu last week.