A Turkey-Ethiopia joint cable manufacturer on Thursday inaugurated a state-of-the-art production facility to boost their annual production capacity threefold.
The Euro Cable joint venture manufacturing plant, established by Turkish cable producer Demes Cable and Ethiopia’s Glorious Company, is located in the town of Gelan, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian officials and Turkish Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union Yaprak Alp attended the inauguration ceremony.
Said Ibrahim, the company’s manager, said that USD 40 million was invested in the new plant and construction of the 10,000 square meter facility.
“We used to produce 4,000 tons of different types of cables for the local market annually, but now our annual production capacity is about 12,000 tons,” he said, adding that the new plant will help them to produce high-voltage electric cables and data cables.
Teka Gebreyes, Ethiopia’s deputy trade minister said that Euro Cable has demonstrated an enduring and growing partnership of Ethiopian and Turkish investors. (Anadolu)
UK to provide GBP 15.5 mln to support Ethiopia’s election next year
The UK government has announced a GBP 15.5 million support to help Ethiopia run transparent, free and fair elections next year.
Foreign Secretary of Her Majesty’s Government, Jeremy Hunt, made the announcement on Thursday, May 2 at the 2019 World Press Freedom Day celebration which started at the African Union (AU) headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
He said the money will build the capacity of the national election board to run the election which will make electoral operations more for the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).
It will also prevent electoral violence through enhanced monitoring and early warning to improve effectiveness of electoral dispute mechanism, according to Jeremy Hunt.
The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, also announced a new Chevening Africa Media Fellowship programmer that will provide 60 exceptional African journalists over the next five years to gain experience in the newsrooms of Britain’s leading media organizations.
This year, applicants from ten African countries will be eligible, including Ethiopia. (ENA)
Nation preparing first ever 10-year dev’t plan
The Planning and Development Commission said on Tuesday that it is preparing the country’s first ever 10 year Perspective Development Plan.
Upon finalization by June 2020, the plan will cover the period from July 2020 to 2030 to make it fit in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to ENA.
Briefing journalists today, Planning and Development Commissioner, Fitsum Assefa (PhD), said the plan has gathered inputs in macroeconomics, industrialization, agricultural transformation, human resource development, energy, transport and services, urban development and housing, population and development, and hydro economics.
She added that the plan follows bottom up approach with full participation of stakeholders, including business persons, civic associations, and development partners.
Moreover, Fitsum pointed out that efforts are underway to start result-based monitoring and evaluation system, with better emphasis on accountability instead of the usual process-based one.
To do so, key result areas and performance indicators are under preparation and pertinent government executive institutions will take part in the series of discussions and agreements, she stated. (ENA)
UNHCR suspends its operations in Gambella
Due to recent security incidents in Gambella which resulted in some civilian fatalities, including refugees and a humanitarian worker, UNHCR has suspended missions to all the refugee camps since Monday 29 April as per the recommendation of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS.
In a statement issued on Thursday UNHCR said due to the movement restrictions, only limited humanitarian assistance is being provided in the camps by a skeletal humanitarian staff and via existing community structures.
UNHCR emphasizes ‘centrality of protection’ within the NCRRS : UNHCR has provided detailed recommendations to the Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) for inclusion in the draft National Comprehensive Refugee Response Strategy (NCRRS) which envisages to change Ethiopia’s refugee management approach to an Out-of-Camp model of assistance over the next decade.’
UNHCR considers the six pillars of the Strategy to be already remarkably comprehensive, and encourage further alignment to the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), in line with the changing global perspectives. (UNHCR)