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A lecture organized by the Neem Foundation of Ethiopia promoted the economic possibilities of the Neem Tree. The potential to harvest and utilize the Neem tree in Ethiopia is unlimited said Dr. Taye Teferedegn, Chairman of the Neem Foundation.

The Neem tree has multifaceted use including medicine, industry, agriculture and environment according to Taye.

International and local consulting firms have expressed interest in undertaking a topographic survey of Lake Tana, Ethiopia. The topographic survey is expected to contribute to efforts to eliminate the dangers of flooding.

The topographic survey on the flood prone areas of the sub-basin is expected to identify landscape values and the nature of floods for the flood management system being designed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy.

It is expected that the survey will show the characteristics of the landscape including natural and manmade features said an expert at the Ministry.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade is to exert effort to reform the trade system in Ethiopia according to Siraj Ali State Minister speaking at a forum organized by the ministry.

The conference was organized by the Ministry of Trade to discuss draft proclamations known as ‘Technical Regulations’ and ‘Mandatory Standards.’

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange signed a settlement agreement with Oromia Cooperative Bank, Ethiopia last Tuesday.

The agreement was signed by Wondimagegn Negera President of Oromia Cooperative Bank and Ahadu Wubshet, Chief Operations Officer at the ECX. 

The Leather Industry Development Institution, Ethiopia is to import semi-processed leather products. The Ethiopian institute had originally considered importing raw material. The institute made the decision to import leather to solve the shortage of supplies for national tanneries.

The import of semi processed leather will reduce the production process for local tanneries and minimize the environmental impact of the processing according to sources at the institute. 

Anbessa Bus Transport Enterprise, Ethiopia is to send a team of four overseas to study methods of electronic ticketing and global positioning system technology to be utilized for fleet tracking.

The management of the Ethiopian city bus service is yet to decide which country the team will visit although India is the most probable choice according to Bedlu Assefa General Manager of Anbessa.

The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority issued a new directive which allows manufacturing companies importing raw materials into Ethiopia to be taxed on the basis of their transaction costs.

The customs authority will conduct a post clearance audit within 15 days to reclaim the balance should there exist discrepancies between the transaction values on the invoices and ERCA’s data.

This directive aims to alleviate delays in production due to the time it takes for raw materials being processed by customs according to Fekadu Bekele, Customs Valuation Directorate.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education has issued contracts to print high school textbooks to Indian printers. The 5.9 million US dollar contract to reprint textbooks, including teachers’ guides, for five subjects went to Repro Printers and Pitambra Books.

Nineteen international printers had responded to the invitation put out by the Ministry of Education to reprint biology, civic, chemistry, ethics, mathematics and physics.

The bidding international printers passed a technical evaluation which assessed their capacity and ability to supply the books with the proper weight of paper and specified cover page.

An exporter of precious minerals and tantalum, Great Wall, is engaged in discussions with international firms to partner in exploration and extraction of precious minerals in Ethiopia.

Great Wall is talking to currently undiclosed Chinese and Turkish companies interested in deep pit mining for Agate, Amber, Amazonite and Tormaline when the stay on mining licenses in Ethiopia is lifted.

The exporter is also in negotiations for a collaborative venture to explore, extract and export Tantalum and Quartz with other, unnamed, Chinese and Turkish companies.

Stratex International plc announced the discovery of notable gold reserves in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian gold deposits were discovered through drilling exploration at the company’s Megenta hot spring epi-thermal gold discovery in the Afar Region of Ethiopia as well as the Akehil gold prospect.

The recent discovery proves the presence of high grade gold reserves indicating a rich gold system at Megenta said David J. Hall, Executive Director of East Africa for Stratex.