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Addis Ababa, February 25, 2019 – Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) Cargo and Logistics Services, has been crowned with ‘African Cargo Airline of the Year’ and ‘Air Cargo Brand of the Year in Africa’ awards for the fourth year in a row.
Regarding the awards, Group CEO of Ethiopian, Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam, remarked, “We are honored to have received the ‘African Cargo Airline of the Year’ and ‘Air Cargo Brand of the Year in Africa’ awards which are testimony to the leading role Ethiopian is playing in air cargo service in Africa.”
“In line with Vision 2025, we have been investing heavily in expanding our cargo services, building the largest trans-shipment terminal in Africa with an annual capacity of about 1 million tons, and deploying 9 dedicated freighters.
According to the CEO, Ethiopian cargo services today span across 44 international destinations in Africa, the Gulf, Middle East, Asia, the Americas and Europe, augmenting the export of perishables from Africa and import of high value goods.
By 2025, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services envisions becoming a full-fledged profit center of Ethiopian Airlines Group with annual revenue $2bln US dollars, 19 dedicated aircraft, annual tonnage of 820,000, and 57 international destinations.
Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services is Africa’s largest cargo operator, according to a press release of the Airlines today.

Addis Ababa, February 26, 2019 – Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, traveled to Djibouti to attend the 46th session of IGAD Council of Ministers.
Modernizing IGAD’s working system in the focus of the two-day meeting which will be on 26-27 February 2019.
Ethiopia is the current chairperson of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
IGAD is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa-namely Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda.

Addis Ababa, February 20, 2019 –The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) announced that it is on process to approve three draft bills to modernize the financial sector and improve the efficiency of remittance flows.
According to Dr Yinager Desie, Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, the bank has already amended 10 non-functional and defective directives during the past seven months.
The new draft bills, which will be approved once consultations are held with relevant bodies, incorporated directives that allow Ethiopian Diaspora to take part in Ethiopia’s financial sector, he told journalists today.
The Governor further said the bank is ready to put in place a new, efficient, and innovative system to improve remittance flows, which is the main source of the country’s foreign currency earnings, including mobile banking system.
Though it is hard to say that that country’s foreign reserve is sufficient, it has shown improvement compared to it was seven months ago. However, the decline in overall export trade performance remains a threat, he added.
Dr Yinager also rejected rumor of making exchange rate adjustment on foreign currency.
“The government has no plan to make any adjustment. However, it will take administrative measures to narrow the gap between the black market exchange rate and the legal one,” he said.
Ethiopia’s economic growth has been declining since 2015. The growth for this fiscal year is expected to close to or more compared to the one registered last fiscal year, he stated.
The country registered a 7.7 percent economic growth last year.

Addis Ababa, February 22, 2019 – UK’s Minister of State for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, yesterday announced up to £30 million funding for prosperity and security projects across Africa.
The funding boost comes as Britain signs a new strategic partnership with the African Union, strengthening the engagement between the continent and the UK Government.
Speaking ahead of the signing of the partnership at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mrs Baldwin said:
“From our support to observers ensuring free and fair elections in Nigeria and Senegal this weekend, to the crucial training our Armed Forces provides to security forces in Kenya, the UK’s partnership with African countries continues to help empower and upskill people across the continent, and this funding will allow us to boost those efforts.
“Our new partnership will also cement our relationship with the African Union, building on growing economic ties to forge new opportunities for young people and reinforce our close bonds.”
The partnership will strengthen cooperation on security and prosperity, and support a joined up approach to tackle climate change.
The funding, which forms part of the partnership agreement, and will be spread over three years, will be used to train peacekeepers in Kenya, assist free and fair elections, and support the next phase of negotiations for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
The signing of the strategic partnership also allows the UK to support African-led ambitions with British expertise, to create more opportunities and more jobs, according to a statement the British Embassy in Addis Ababa sent to FBC.