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Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia's flag carrier, is in negotiations with Bombardier Commercial Aircraft for the purchase of five Q400 turboprop aircraft. The airline has been in negotiations with the Canadian manufacturer for some months according to a senior Ethiopian Airlines Executive.

Bombardier and Ethiopian Airlines are in the process of negotiating the details in the purchase agreement said the executive. It is expected that this step will be concluded in the next couple of months he explained.

Nyota Minerals expects to finalize the Definitive Feasibility Study on its Ethiopian Project by the middle of the coming year, 2012. The company’s first priority is completing the DFS for the Tulu Kapi, Ethiopia project, said Richard Chase, Chief Executive of the company.

Nyota projects that the DFS will be completed in June of 2012 according to Chase.

The DFS is significant as it will allow the mining company to engage with banks in relation to financing for the projects he explained.

Allana Potash is expecting to acquire equity capital from new strategic investors for its project in Ethiopia, in the New Year.

The company expects that the positive preliminary economic assessment completed last month will result in developments in the coming year.  

The PEA stated that a one million ton per annum mine at the Dankil project will cost 796 million US dollars to build. The capital cost figure makes the projects the lowest cost and possibly the highest return potash project in the world according to Farhad Abasov CEO of Allana.

The National Bank of Ethiopia approved the appointment of Tesfaye Desta as the new president of Oromia Insurance Company, Ethiopia. 

Tesfaye has been serving as acting president of Oromia Insurance after Mitiku Abdissa founding president resigned last April He previously served as a financial analyst-project officer at the Ministry of Industry from 1987-91. He served in a managerial position with Nyala Insurance for more than ten years.

The Ethiopian Government Housing Agency cancelled the contracts of 643 tenants in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who subleased their rental property to third parties against their contract with the Agency.

The Agency cancelled the contracts following a directive issued in October penalizing tenants who have sublet commercial properties owned by the government. The directive also penalized tenants who were utilizing residential property for commercial purposes.

Note: the veracity of this story has been disputed by the Institute if Bio-Diversity Conservation. Their correction/comment is found in the comments section.

A Netherlands company, Soil and Crop, has allegedly defaulted on an agreement with Ethiopia’s Institute of Bio-Diversity Conservation. Soil and Crop and the Institute of Bio-Diversity Conservation, Ethiopia reached an arrangement on marketing teff products in 2005.

The agreement reached between the two bodies requires Soil and Crop to acknowledge the Ethiopian origins of teff, collaborate on research programs, pay for license renewal and share profits with the Ethiopian governmental institute.

The stay on new mining licenses put into effect in Ethiopia last month is only temporary said Sinkenesh Ejigu Minister of Mines. Ethiopia had issued more than a 100 mining licenses before the suspension last month.

There were an estimated 200 applications for new licenses waiting to be processed when Ethiopia enacted the suspension to gain time to sort out issues with the mining sector.

The Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Association elected Mulu Solomon as president on the 17th of December. Mulu was elected as head of the chamber in Ethiopia after acquiring 112 votes out of a possible of 187.

Mulu was nominated as a presidential candidate for the ECCSA by the 7th General Assembly of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Association held last week.

Ernst and Young is to present the first phase of a study it conducted towards the development of a national framework for Economic Growth Corridors in Ethiopia on the 23rd of December, at the Hilton Hotel.

The study will be expected to define concepts related to Economic Growth Corridors, establish criteria for identifying them including the legal, organization, institutional and coordination procedures related to identification. The study will also deal with establishing and operating EGCs at the regional and federal levels.

Ethiopia earned 92 million US dollars from the export of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the last five months according to the Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency.

74.5 million Us dollars was acquired through the export of flowers said Haileselassie Tekie Director General of the Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency at a joint consultative workshop organized for the sector.