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The Ethiopian Airlines bought yesterday two, new Diamond DA42 Twin Star, twin engine, propeller-driven airplanes manufactured by Diamond Aircraft Industries.

The airplanes, which will be used in training new pilots, were bought for 550,000 euro each.

In addition to the previous ten single engine pilot training aircraft, the two DA42 Twin Star planes will upgrade the performance of the trainees, Beza Tesfaye, fleet planning manager of Ethiopian, said.

The Ministry of Mines said yesterday that regional branches of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in Hawassa, Jimma, Mekelle ans Assossa would start buying gold from suppliers as of October 3.

It was reported in mid July that artisan miners produced and supplied about 7,000 kg of gold to the National Bank of Ethiopia in the fiscal year to 7 July 2011. The amount was up by 144 percent from their output of 2,866kg of gold the previous fiscal year according to Sinkinesh Ejigu.

The construction of the Chemoga-Yeda hydropower plant on the outskirts of Debre Markos is lagging behind schedule due to lack of finances.

The 555 million dollar hydropower project was being funded by the Chinese EXIM bank. It was planned to be executed in two stages and to generate 278 megawatt of electricity.

The Chemoga-Yeda River is one of the tributaries of the Nile. Countries downstream of the Nile are concerned about the hydropower project and have been lobbying to the EXIM bank for delay in financing the project, officials of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) said.

The Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association said that it was organising an international exhibition of tourism and travel from June 14-18, 2012.

About 80 companies from 21 countries are expected to participate in the exhibition.  

The tourism and travel fair will be organized for the purpose of introducing Ethiopian tourist attractions to the international business community.

Dry Ports Services Enterprise made a 46.1 million birr net profit last fiscal year from dry ports activities like loading and unloading cargoes, and temporary storage for import and export cargoes.

The income was obtained from dry port services to 19,125 containers and 526 vehicles. The enterprise had planned to make 93.10 million birr in gross profit in the last fiscal year but earned an actual profit of 91 million birr.

Stratex acquires 49.9% shareholding in Rift Resources to provide exposure to potash in Ethiopia.

Stratex International plc, the AIM-listed gold miner, said yesterday that it had acquired a 49.9 percent holding in potash-focused exploration company Rift Resources plc after exploration in the Afar region of Ethiopia highlighted the prospectivity for the mineral.

Stratex International, the AIM-listed gold miner, said yesterday that it would use the fund from the sale of shares to Antofagasta, the FTSE100 copper mining company, to accelerate its gold exploration activities in Ethiopia.

Antofagasta, the FTSE100 copper mining company, is buying a stake of almost three per cent in Stratex International via a private placing.

Shares in Stratex were trading higher by 0.6 per cent at 7.8 pence each in mid-afternoon trading yesterday. The funds raised amounted to £800,000.

The Endowment Fund for Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) said that 18 local and international companies had responded to the tender for feasibility study to erect a steel mill in Shire, Tigray Regional State.

The companies which expressed interest in conducting feasibility study include TATA, the Indian consultancy service, and Mastell, a Chinse consultant.

The bids from the 18 companies were scheduled to be technically and financially evaluated yesterday.

The Ethiopian Airlines is going to be fully integrated into Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance, in October. The process took over a year and 6.9 million dollars which has not been paid in full yet.

The airlines had to fulfil 83 criteria, including IT compliance, to earn full membership of the alliance.
Ethiopian is the third African airline to join the Star Alliance after South African Air (SAA) and Egypt Air.

Ethiopian uses SABER booking system, which needed to be connected with the central system of the Star Alliance headquarters, and with those of the 29 member carriers.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) approved last Tuesday a 1.52 billion birr loan to Habesha Cement.

The company had sought from the bank 70 percent of the fund it need for setting up a cement factory in the country.

The bank is currently drafting the loan agreement and it is expected that the parties will sign the deal next week.

The annual production capacity of Habesha’s first factory is projected to be 1.4 million tonnes of cement a year, according to Mesfin Abi, CEO of the company.