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Baraton Trading P.L.C signed an agreement with Furukawa, a Japanese company, to import hydraulic breakers and rock drills.

The deal is expected to ease the problems faced by Ethiopian contractors to obtain the construction materials.

Representatives of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry are scheduled to visit Ethiopia in November.

The visit is due to a country focus presentation that members of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations had made late in June to 150 companies in Dubai on the investment opportunities and promotion available in Ethiopia. 

The Ethiopia-Djibouti electric power transmission was launched yesterday in Djibouti in the presence of Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia and Omar Guelleh, president of Djibouti.

The project is estimated to meet 75 percent of Djibouti’s power demad.

The 65 million dollar project, largely financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), aims to raise access to electricity in Djibouti to 60 percent by 2015 which was 49.5 percent in 2003.

The Ethiopian Maritime and Transit Service Enterprise (EMTSE) received instruction from the Ministry of Industry last week to prepare port facilities for handling coal imported by Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE).

It was reported in Mid August that the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) was going to import coal from South Africa to secure sustainable supply of coal as an alternative source of energy for cement factories.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) introduced to banks on September 19, 2011a Swift Cheque Value Transfer, an interbank payment system, to ensure prompt exchange and transfer of cheques above 200, 000 birr.

The SWIFT cheque value transfer allows for the head offices of banks to use Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) in settling high value cheques within six hours.

“This is a good move on the part of NBE,” Anteneh Assefah, vice president of Abyssinia Bank, said. 

The Privatization and Public Supervising Agency (PPESA) was scheduled to hand over the management of Tepi Coffee Plantation to Green Coffee Agro Industry Plc on 3 October 2011 after the latter bought 51 percent of the shares in the plantation.

Green Plc had paid 111.3 million, 25percent of the shares it bought, two months ago.  The 10,000 hectare plantation rests in two regional states, with 32 percent in the Gambella Regional State and the rest in Southern Nations Nationalities Regional State.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) said that it was evaluating a 2.1 billion birr financing request from SAYGIM - BM Capital Technology Group, a Turkish company which is planning to manufacture fibre optics.

SAYGIM - BM Capital Technology Group is planning to relocate machinery from Turkey to a plot it has acquired in Sebeta, 35km west of Addis Ababa.

Besides fibre optics, the company is planning to manufacture cables for household use and electric transmission lines according to the business proposal it submitted to the bank.

The Council of Ministers endorsed last Friday the formation of the Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Enterprise (ESLE).

The enterprise is an amalgamation of Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL), Ethiopian Maritime Transit Services (EMTS) and Dry Port Service Enterprise (DPSE).

The initial proposal for the company to be a corporation was abandoned. It is to be formed as a state enterprise instead.

A delegation from the government and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) is scheduled to sign an official and binding agreement with Djibouti tomorrow for the export of electricity.

Ethiopia was exporting electricity to Djibouti on a trial basis for the last four months charging Djibouti 0.70 dollars a kilowatt.

The 65 million dollar project, largely financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), aims to raise access to electricity in Djibouti to 60 percent by 2015 which was 49.5 percent in 2003. 

Gulf General Investment Company, a Dubai-based conglomerate whose net worth is about 3.7 billion dollars and M2K Business Services, a local company, are jointly planning to set up an aluminium extrusion plant at the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The extrusion plant, which is planned to be constructed at Sululta in the Finfinne Special Zone, is estimated to cost 12 million dollars.