Ethiopia has created 1.67 million new jobs over the last seven months, Jobs Creation Commission said on Friday.
The National Jobs Creation Council is undertaking its regular session of appraising the Commission’s performance.
More than 20 million young Ethiopians will need jobs in the next ten years and the country is planning to provide two million jobs every year over a decade.
Addressing the council, Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen said coordination among federal and regional institutions is key in ensuring job creation.
Creating job opportunities and practically benefiting the youth are top priority of the government, he emphasized.
Jobs Creation Commissioner, Ephrem Tekle said Ethiopia has planned to create three million jobs in the current fiscal year as part of the ten-year plan.
So far, he stated, Ethiopia has created 1.67 million new jobs over the last seven months.
Addis Ababa City Administration, Oromia, and Amhara Regional States are amongst top performers achieving 99, 96 and 92 percent of their plan respectively. (ENA)
GERD red line can’t be crossed – Deputy PM
The Government of Ethiopia would not accept the crossing of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s (GERD) red line, which is a matter of sovereignty, Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen said on Friday.
In his remark to the regular meeting of the Office of the National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation of GERD, the deputy Prime Minister said the country has the natural rights of developing its resources without bringing significant harm on the downstream countries.
“We want to work in cooperation with the countries in order to ensure the interest of our peoples,” Demeke stated.
This generation has historical responsibility of finalizing the dam so as to ensure development that benefits the public, he further noted.
According to him, the construction of the dam has been progressing well over the past one year, and the public is resolute. These would enable the government to complete the dam soon.
The construction of the dam has now jumped over 70 percent, it was learned. (Walta)
Nationwide media training on election launched
A media capacity building project which focuses on developing the reporting ability of Ethiopian media outlets and journalists has been launched on Wednesday.
US Embassy Representative Amanda Jacobsen said the embassy has made an organization and technical capacity assessment on Ethiopian media.
According to her, the capacity building initiative will cover 13 major topics based on the assessment made on the media organizations.
The project is expected to help Ethiopia’s media outlets and journalists to report fairly, impartially and fully on the upcoming general election, according to Jacobsen.
Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority Deputy Director-General, Wondwosen Andualem said on his part the training will play pivotal role in producing responsible election reports.
He added that the upcoming event is the most important election for Ethiopia which is striving to realize democratic transition.
A one-week training on elections will be conducted at 25 places across the country; and this constitutes an important part of the United States support for free, fair, and credible elections, it was noted. (Press Release)
US ready to back Ethiopian reform with USD 5 bln investment
The US is ready to invest USD five billion in Ethiopia through its newly created International Development Finance Corporation in an effort to support private-sector reform and counter China’s influence in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.
“More than USD five billion is expected in the coming three to five years,” said Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s finance minister, adding that the US institution had expressed interest in investing in telecoms, geothermal energy, logistics and sugar, all sectors undergoing some degree of privatization. Speaking in an interview in Addis Ababa, Ahmed said the deployment of funds would depend on Ethiopia’s successful implementation of “certain reform measures”.
Those changes are understood to be related to foreign investors’ ability to hold offshore accounts, repatriate foreign currency and settle disputes under New York arbitration rules. Washington is keen to encourage the expansion of the private sector in Ethiopia, a strategically located country of 110m people, which has historically followed a state-led development model, partly funded by infrastructure investment from China. (Financial Times)
