The Former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn has been awarded with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Government of Japan. He was hailed for his record of public service.

A thriving city in central Japan, Kobe, has taken a daring move to offer what is called a startup visa program, a one-year visa package, for enterprising young business leaders wanting to setup shop in Japan, as the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tries to manage the fallout from another (national) program which offered a five-year Japanese visa for semi-skilled workers around world to curb the crippling labor shortage in the country.

With less than two months left until the upcoming Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), which is scheduled to be held in the Tourist-marvel city of Yokohama, the Japanese foreign assistance apparatus is still pondering over the level of envelope Official Development Assistance (ODA) package for African economies, to be announced for the coming three years.

Concluding his official three-state visit to Africa, Taro Kono, Foreign Minister of Japan has requested Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) to attend and lead the peace and security sessions of the upcoming seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-VII) to be held by the end of August in Yokohama.

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Group, is said to have a business interest to partner with Ethiopian,with the latterto host the corporation’s regional hub for the entire Africa, The Reporter has learnt.

​​​​​​​After a half a century stay in the Ethiopian trade business, local dealers and Isuzu Motors International via Itochu Corporation — the trading and export house of Isuzu Motors – have reached terms to set up an assembly line in Ethiopia, The Reporter has learnt.

With a grant funding of USD 27.5 million, the government of Japan has agreed to fund the construction of a kaizen training facility in Ethiopia via its human resource development scheme the two countries have signed four years ago. 

A couple of weeks after the transfer of 30 percent stake belonging to the Ethiopian government in the National Tobacco Enterprise (NTE) SC to Japan Tobacco International, the company has assigned a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to spearhead its operation in Ethiopia, it was learnt.

With Sweden’s IKEA looking at the manufacturing hub of Ethiopia as a place to invest, one of Japan’s successful businesses, Uniqlo, is set to open its African manufacturing hub in Ethiopia in 2018. This is a major coup for Ethiopia as it continues to struggle to fill its industrial parks all across the nation that are barely occupied and emulate the success story of Asian nations.

The Government of Ethiopia has decided to transfer its last remaining 30 percent stake in the National Tobacco Enterprise SC to the Japanese tobacco giant, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), at a total cost of USD 434 million.