Ethiopian Airlines backs Boeing Dreamliner with orders

Ethiopian Airlines which saw one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners catch fire in London last month, has expressed confidence in the plane and will proceed with an order for eight more.

The fire happened while the aircraft was parked at Heathrow Airport.


It was traced to a transmitter, located in the upper rear part of the plane, used to locate aircraft after a crash.

The 787 Dreamliner is considered to be one of the most advanced planes in the industry.

However, the jet has been hit by a string of problems in recent months.

"The airplane is undergoing a challenging time to mature, but it's improving," said Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam.


"I have strong confidence in this airplane. It is the future in aviation," he told a news conference after the airline announced a near tripling of net profit.

The airline is one of the biggest on the African continent.

In January, the entire 787 fleet was temporarily taken out of service amid safety concerns.

This was after fire broke out in one of Japan Airlines' 787 Dreamliners, and an ANA flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of a battery fault and a fire in one of the electrical compartments.

Japan's ANA said it had found damage to the battery wiring on two 787 locator transmitters during checks.

US carrier United Airlines also found a pinched wire during an inspection of one of its six 787s.

Boeing has since asked airlines to carry out inspections of the transmitters.

Ethiopian Airlines Eyes Flying Airbus by 2016

Ehiopian Airlines (ET) announced that it expects to receive A350 Airbus plane by 2016, which it had agreed to buy from the European Aircraft manufacturer Airbus.


Tewolde Gebremaraim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ET said that the airline has ordered 14 A350 which was originally conceived in 2004, and had recently its first test flight at the Paris Air show held last June.

Tewolde also said these orders for the A350 on top of the 13 aircraft orders it had ordered to the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing made 787s, will help it further excel in its air services endeavours.

ET  currently has five 787s, which are advertised as being a fast, fuel efficient,  and more spacious compared to its predecessors, has also encountered difficulty this year leading to the aircrafts being grounded for several months before they were allowed to fly again.


Revenue Hikes

The airlines also revealed that its operating revenue increased 165 percent from last year reaching 2.7 billion birr (around 144 million USD). Its net profit has also jumped by 178 percent, to reach just over two billion birr, despite soaring fuel prices, and the grounding of the 787s for several months.

It dedicated its success to what it called the dedication and commitment of employees and wise leadership of the management and board, Flexible capacity & demand management ,Prudent cost management, increasing Charter business, its Right long term strategy, growth of African and Ethiopian economy and strong Customer confidence.

The Airline which was founded in 1945 currently has 76 international and 17 domestic flights, with 60 fleets in possession catering for over 1330 weekly flights and over 190 daily departures.

The Airline is in the process of opening up new flight routes to South East Asian nations, with flight routes opening scheduled later this year for Hanoi, Vietnam and Manila Philippines. It has opened just this year eight new international flight routes and increased frequencies to nine existing flight routes.

Friend of Boston Bombing suspect, Robel faces up to 16 years in prison

A friend of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect was indicted Thursday for allegedly making false statements to authorities.

Prosecutors said Robel Phillipos faces up to 16 years in prison in connection with two federal criminal counts. But attorneys for the 19-year-old say he will continue to fight the allegations against him.

"In time, it will be clear that this prosecution should not have been brought in the first place," lawyers Derege Demissie and Susan Church said in a statement.

Following Phillipos' May arrest on one count of lying to authorities, a judge ordered him released on $100,000 bond, putting him on home confinement and electronic monitoring.


Phillipos met 20-year-old bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev while they were students at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

In arguing for bail in May, Phillipos' lawyers portrayed him as a frightened and confused young man "who was subjected to intense questioning and interrogation, without the benefit of counsel, and in the context of one of the worst attacks against the nation."

Friends and relatives have described him in court documents as a considerate and thoughtful person who was the son of a single mother who emigrated from Ethiopia to the United States.

The April 15 bombing killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the race's finish line.
Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, two other friends of Tsarnaev's, already have pleaded not guilty to allegations they conspired to obstruct justice by agreeing to destroy and conceal some of his belongings as he evaded authorities after the attack.

Authorities have alleged Phillipos was with Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov in Tsarnaev's dorm room on April 18, and the three left with items including Tsarnaev's laptop and a backpack with fireworks.

They claim Phillipos concealed that the three went to the dorm room and took Tsarnaev's backpack, and that he repeatedly lied to investigators during interviews.

But Phillipos' lawyers said Thursday it's clear that he had nothing to do with taking the backpack or destroying potential evidence.

Ethiopian Taxi Driver, Keyboardist Reinvents Music Career 

One of the most popular keyboardists in Ethiopia is now working as a taxi driver in Washington, D.C. In the 1970s, Hailu Mergia performed with a famous band in Ethiopia. In 1981, he toured the United States with that band and then settled in Washington. But he kept his name and music alive in Ethiopian communities worldwide by producing his own recordings. Now one of those cassettes, from nearly 30 years ago, has been reissued after it was discovered in a music store in Ethiopia.
 

Mergia plays music from his 1985 reissued cassette, titled Mergia and his Classical Instrument, as he waits for customers at Dulles International Airport, located outside Washington. He said his Ethiopian customers get excited when they realize who he is.

 

“When I tell them my name, then they recognize my name, and then they say 'Are you Hailu Mergia, then they tell me how they appreciate my music," he said, beaming with pride. "Most of them ask me ‘Why do you drive a taxi,’ so I tell them the same answer, ‘Look, I just have to make money.’”
 

Mergia is mostly self-taught. In his younger days, he played in restaurants and bars in Ethiopia and found fame in the 1970s playing with the jazz and soul Walias Band. 

 

“We were playing very modern music, so we were very popular at that time,” he explained.

 

For about 20 years in Washington, Mergia made money playing with another band and managing a nightclub. When those jobs ended, he became a taxi driver.  But he never let go of his music and has produced a dozen cassettes and a CD over his professional career. 

 

“I just like to play original music. I just play typical Ethiopian music,” he said.

 

Typical perhaps, but also unique.  Mergia added new sounds to his 1985 cassette like the Moog synthesizer and drum machine which he mixes with traditional acoustic Ethiopian music. He also added the accordion which had not been heard in Ethiopian music for years.

 

Mergia’s style appealed to Brian Shimkovitz, founder of a small record label called Awesome Tapes from Africa.  While visiting a music store in Ethiopia, he thought this particular cassette stood out and wanted to reissue it.  

 

Mergia was surprised when he got the call.

 

“My question was, ‘How did you get it? Where did you get it?’ I was excited,” he admitted.

 

Shimkovitz thought Mergia’s sound would have wide appeal.

 

“There’s also tons of Ethiopians all over the world who would remember this music and would love to hear it again," he remarked. "I think the music touches on jazz and rock and experimental music but, of course, also classic Ethiopian music.” 

 

Mergia thinks the younger generation would also enjoy it.  

 

“I chose the melody that can fit for accordion. They like it because they don’t have that kind of sound,” he explained.

 

Today, Mergia is likely to collect even more fans since Shimkovitz has released his music in different formats that make it available to access on the Internet.

 

“It’s being marketed in every continent and in record stores of all different kinds,” he said.

 

At age 67, Mergia is hoping to reinvent his career. He is traveling to Europe in November where he will tour with other musicians to showcase his distinctive style.

Ethiopian aliyah ends as last of Falashmura set to arrive in Israel

Farewell ceremony to take place at Israel's embassy in Addis Ababa before last flights take off.

Israel’s 30-year campaign of organized immigration from Ethiopia will draw to a close on Wednesday afternoon when 450 of the last Falashmura arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport on two flights chartered by the Jewish Agency.

Before the new immigrants board their flight, a farewell ceremony will be held at the Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa, attended by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver.

Ethiopian Jews have been brought to Israel in three major waves – Operation Moses in 1984, Operation Solomon in 1992, and Operation Dove’s Wings, which began last October and targeted the remaining Falashmura in the African country.

Falashmura is the name given to members of Ethiopia’s Jewish community who were pressured to convert to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries.

After many years of inaction, in late 2010 the government bowed to pressure from American and Israeli organizations that advocate on behalf of Ethiopian Jews and agreed to allow these thousands of Falashmura, who had been waiting in transit camps in Gondar, to come to Israel and reunite with their families.

Since last October, the Jewish Agency has chartered 91 flights, which have brought altogether 7,000 Ethiopians to Israel on Operation Dove’s Wings.

Ethiopia: Unemployment A Pertinent Economic Itch

It was only recently that I saw the presidents of some public universities and graduating students being interviewed by the state-owned media. The interview focused on what the universities provide the graduating students, in terms of finding employment opportunities.


These leaders of higher education institutes had almost identical replies. They said that they have been able to arrange a four-day workshop on the basics of entrepreneurship, preparation of business plans, allocation of capital layouts, the importance of attitudinal preparedness to do any kind of work, including the laying of cobble stones, and making attempts to save money for advanced investment innovative efforts.

The graduates too expressed their preference for self-employment and being the master of their own fate. The journalist was riding in the same wagon. He didn’t mention the real issue at stake, at least in the eyes of parents, who had recovered quickly from the hangover of the festive celebrations.

The presidents who provided orientations in business planning did not touch on the role of a university to educate or train students. A focus that could quench the manpower requirement for the country’s Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP).


The government officials have time and again talked about the country’s abundant human resources. Unless education is pursued simply for the sake of accumulating knowledge as a philosophical objective, it is believed that a protracted plan of study should have objectives. These include filling in and serving the requirements of the country.

The National Planning Commission and the other stakeholders are supposed to plan the allocation of resources, including manpower, to bring about ways and means of realising rapid economic growth. We should consider that when a country invests a lot of money on every student, who may take 13 to 15 years before he gets his diploma or degree, the objective is too evident to miss. It is a hard theory to swallow that both graduating students and education officials believe that it is up to the students to create jobs and try to make ends meet.

It would indeed be a very interesting concept to entertain such an entrepreneurial approach if the universities themselves had, in conjunction with the National Planning Commission, earlier conducted market research and made the findings available for the graduating students. But, in the absence of such information, it is similar to reducing the problem to the level of fly bites.

In an economy where the aspiration is to embark on industrialisation from one of the lowest levels in Africa, it is incomprehensible to have attained a level where graduating students should be left to their own devices to find employment opportunities.

During the last two years alone, hundreds of thousands of students have graduated from all the universities across the country. This number should only be peanuts considering the requirements of skilled or trained manpower at this stage of development.

Where will this trend lead us in the coming years?

A country that is supposed to grow at 11pc annually, we would have thought, would have been able to absorb more than one percent of its population.

University officials and other sector office holders present their annual budget requirements for both capital and recurrent outlays. It is assumed that the honorable members of Parliament ask the convened official about their capital investment plans and the justification in terms of growth and development.

Industrial development has a number of implications. Among other things, it elevates a vast number of employment opportunities, as it involves the creation of backward and forward linkages. One industry has a multiplier effect of not only saving foreign currency because of its substitution effect, but also as a result of fetching foreign exchange from market opportunities in exportation.

There is a general trend these days of graduates investing in the business of raising chickens or indulging in dairy farming. The personal experiences of some entrepreneurs reveal that hard work and perseverance pays off in a relatively short period of time.

But, this does not remove the requirement of conducting some kind of market research that would assess the cost and benefit comparisons of various initiatives. This should take into account such important factors as opportunities of employment, capital recovery period, risks involved, environmental impacts and economic advantages. But this is only a small scale engagement. Hundreds of thousands of graduates call for more sophisticated undertakings.

I think that, at this stage of development, education in this country ought to be an instrument for solving problems. The managers of our public universities should, therefore, take up the question as to why it is a problem to find employment opportunities in this country at a time where little has been achieved so far.

Instead of giving orientation on how to draw up business plans, it would to be far better to work out an integrated growth strategy that identifies the requirements for specific fields of study. They could then arrange solutions in collaboration with possible stakeholders.

Ethiopian-born contestant wins Israel's 'Big Brother'

Tahunia Rubel, a 25-year-old model from Beit Shemesh, trumps fifth season of reality TV show, winning grand prize of NIS one million.

Tahunia Rubel was named winner of the fifth season of Israel's "Big Brother" reality TV show, it was announced Tuesday at the season's finale.

Rubel, an Ethiopian-born 25-year-old model from Beit Shemesh, palmed the first prize, worth NIS one million. She is the second woman to win the show, the first being Shifra Cornfeld, who won the first season.

Second place was awarded to Levana Gogman, and third went to Leon Shwabsky. The other two contenders who made it to the season's final episode were Dor Damari and Itay Wallach.

Rubel was considered a prominent contender from the season's start, in much part due to her stormy countenance and the many squabbles that surrounded her- many of which were related to issues of race and identity. Earlier in the season, such tensions led to the eventual disqualification of two contestants, father and son Roni and Gili Miley.

The fifth season of the show received relatively low rating, in comparison with earlier ones- apparently due to its being broadcast in the summer.

Chinese nationals in jail for vending smuggled mobile phones

A few days ago the Addis Ababa city administration launched a swift attack on street vendors, (a questionable sense of urgency as the vendors have stayed for so long swarming the streets), to wipe them out as the city claims to restore order and maintain a formal business environment.

As a result, some 30 Chinese nationals were caught selling smuggled mobile phones.


Following the booming taste for smartphones, the Chinese, here working for various government led projects, found part-time jobs in petty crime. According to sources, dozens of Chinese are believed to have smuggled large quantities of unidentified brands, which made their way to Addis Ababa via neighboring countries. The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) is prosecuting the cases. Efforts made by The Reporter to contact the authority for a comment failed as the relevant officials were unavailable.

The Reporter was told to contact the law enforcement officials of the ERCA late on Friday night as it went to press, which was unfortunate. However, sources close to The Reporter confirmed that the number of Chinese involved in smuggling and retailing phones are numerous and highly visible around town. Only last week, dozens were reported to appear before court and sentenced; while a few were freed on bail. This Monday (26) three will appear in court for similar offenses.

According to information The Reporter has obtained, the Chinese are smuggling scores of fake and malfunctioning phones and retailing across the city and beyond. Recently a Chinese woman was caught red-handed by police in Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara Regional State, selling mobile phones openly in the streets. According to the city’s police she was handed over to the ERCA, yet they suspect many of the devices are hidden, waiting for the right time to flood the local market.


The police at Bahir Dar raised suspicions over the involvement of customs staff at the airports, said to be helping the smugglers. To the surprise of the police, some of the detainees were found selling the phones using a tactical deceit, pretending that they had been robbed and lost all of their belongings apart from their phones. The smugglers then claim that they could get a much higher price for the (fake) phones back home, but are desperate to sell as they have lost all their other possessions. They suggest the bargain price of close to eight thousand birr or so, while the white collar buyer may cut the price to two or three thousand birr. The two parties will finally reach an agreement and the illicit trade will be complete.

New rail project in Ethiopia evoke memories of glory days

In the first of a five-part series on railways in Africa, we visit Ethiopia, the first country in Africa to have a railway. The French-built railway connected the capital Addis Ababa to the Red Sea port of Djibouti. However, the old diesel railway is now being replaced by a Chinese-built electrified railway, a grand plan that seeks to transport the country’s commercial exports to its neighbouring countries.


A train hasn’t left Addis Ababa for six years. But this major new train line is expected to open between Addis Ababa and the port of Djibouti in 2016.

This will be the first train line that forms a major piece of the 5,000 km transportation network planned to connect the landlocked country to neighbouring countries.

Abebe Meheret, the head of communications for Ethiopia’s National Railway Corporation, has high hopes for the new project.

“We are looking to connect to North Sudan, Central Sudan and South Sudan. From Ethiopia to Djibouti. From Ethiopia to Kenya, the Lamu corridor will be connected and it will be one of the best routes between Ethiopia and Kenya. The main purpose of the railway is to connect Ethiopia economically to its neighbouring countries.”

Two Chinese companies are involved in the project.

“We are preparing the railway for dual purposes. It is for passengers and for freight,” Meheret explained. “Maybe after 2 years we will have it. Everybody is eager to see the result. Every Ethiopian has taken this railway as its own project.”


The first railway in Africa was built in Ethiopia. It was the brainchild of two French engineers who approached Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II in 1897 with the ambitious idea of constructing a railway to replace the six-week mule trek between Addis Ababa and the French port city of Djibouti.

Debebe Kasa has worked as station manager at the old Addis Ababa station for the past 25 years. He said the frequency of train services declined sharply during Ethiopia’s communist military rule between 1974 and 1991.

“In 1917, the first train left Addis Ababa for Djibouti; 781 Km after two days. But [Emperor] Menelik did not see it…It was good because of the relationship with France, Belgium and Swiss. There were six passenger trains per day and four or five freight trains per day. After that, in 1974, Ethiopia became communist. [Under the] communists there were three trains per week,” he said.

When the trains needed spare parts, Kasa said, the French government did not want to give them to Ethiopia.

At the railway worker’s club in Addis Ababa, retired Ethiopian railway workers spend the day speaking French and playing pétanque.

Wase Fikru has worked on the railway all his life. Although he lamented the loss of the old railway, he was also excited about the new project.

“The railway workers must be the first to travel with this new train. I will be the first if I am alive. I love Chemins de Fer [railways], I love it. Everybody loves railway transport in Ethiopia; I gave it everything. I passed all my young age in that,” he recalled.

Ethiopia’s new railway is expected to cost close to 8 billion euros with funds coming from China, India, Brazil and Turkey. It is also expected to generate 30,000 new jobs.

The promise of Ethiopia’s railway project has captured the hearts and minds of Ethiopians. It is also expected to bring kudos back to a country that started the railway revolution.

Ethiopia - next stop for textile industry?

Swedish clothing retailer H&M wants to set up shop in Ethiopia, since production costs there are cheaper than in the Far East. Other clothing manufacturers are hesitating. Could Ethiopia become the next Bangladesh?

Ethiopia's economy just keeps growing - since 2007 at times with double-digit leaps and bounds. "The Economist" projects that the country will experience annual growth of 7 to 8 percent through 2016.

Ethiopia's government is apparently placing special emphasis on the textile industry - by 2016, the country aims to export more than a billion dollars worth of apparel. Factories established by the likes of H&M are more than welcome.

According to a supplier, the Swedish chain wants to produce more than a million items of clothing per month in the East African nation. A company spokesperson confirmed that test runs have already been ordered from Ethiopian producers.

Cheaper than China

Many producers have in the past relocated production to countries that offered cheap labor, like Bangladesh or China. But in such countries, social standards have risen along with wages - while the world seems to be examining production conditions increasingly critically. So producers have started considering new options for cheap labor.

On the African continent, Morocco and Tunisia are known as clothing production countries, mostly for discount apparel. Other African countries, like Ghana or Kenya, don't play much of a role in the fashion industry, according to GermanFashion, a German industry association.

Ballweg says Ethiopian textile production is just a drop in the bucket

Ethiopia offers a number of advantages, said Thomas Ballweg, a procurement and technical consultant at GermanFashion. "On the one hand are the lower costs - much lower than in China - with 80 million people living there. And, it's near the sea - and quick to get to Europe via the Suez Canal," Ballweg said.

This could shorten delivery time by a third compared with coming from the Far East. In addition, Ethiopia's climate and that of neighboring countries is well-suited for the cultivation of cotton, Ballweg emphasized. As long as the cotton was of high enough quality, clothing producers could save on expensive import by using local materials.

No new Bangladesh

Apart from H&M, British supermarket chain Tesco and Ireland-based discount textile company Primark also produce in Ethiopia, according to GermanFashion. Observers warn that Ethiopia could become another Bangladesh, with textile factory workers laboring under scandalous conditions. Reports recur of Bengali factories burning down and causing numerous deaths. In April a textile factory collapsed, killing more than a thousand people.

Companies are concerned about their brands' reputation, Kannengiesser thinks

Christoph Kannengiesser of the German-African Business Association told DW he can't imagine such a fate for Ethiopia - even discount apparel companies like H&M or Primark are concerned about their reputation.

"For a company with a brand name that relies on its clientele's approval, it would be a disaster for it to become known that social or environmental standards are not being kept," Kannengiesser said.

He said standards set by the International Labor Organization and World Trade Organization are high enough, adding that that numerous non-governmental organizations and other independent groups monitor production conditions in countries with cheap labor.

Road to the National Palace - Next Ethiopian President

The current president, Girma Woldegiorgis, will finish his two terms and leave this year and during the first week of October both Houses will convene and elect a new president.

Names like Dr. Ashebir Woldegiorgis, Berhane Deressa, Merga Bekana, Solome Tadesse, Mulu Solomon, Aster Mamo, Genet Zewdie, Girma Wake, Eyesuswork Zafu and Haile Gebreselassie are already popping up.

A prominent lawyer and legal expert, Molla Zegeye, says that the president is someone who should be accepted and respected by all portions of the society. “He should be between 55 and  60 years old,  be audacious and should have the right to be consulted. He should consult the PM and the Council of Ministers on various national issues,” Molla told The Reporter.

Athlete Gebregziabher Gebremariam, on his part, says that the president should be a person who should listen to the grievances of the masses. He says that the president should put the public ahead of himself.

“I would like to see Kuma Demeksa to be the next president. He is a determined person and is a people's man. However, I think that Ashebir will be the next president,” Gebregziabher told The Reporter.

Aregash Adane, former member of the Central Committee of the TPLF, says that since there is no actual power exercised by the the president, she would not take time to think about the issue.

“Presidents who assumed power have not even fully exercised the power bestowed upon them by the Constitution,” she told The Reporter.

Negasso thinks that Mulu Solomon would make a good president. “Until now the country's top officials have been men, and with the prominence she has, I think she will be a likely candidate. She has the charisma and is young and those are good attributes” he says.

Similarly, Mushe Semu, president of the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), says that he would like to see a woman president. But if it were to be men then Bulcha Demeksa is his choice.

Most of the respondents approached by The Reporter say that the president should be someone who can best represent the people and the process ought to include the public and should be participatory.

With Girma Woldegiorgis set to call it a day the New Ethiopian year, 2006 will welcome a new president of the Republic. Who will you pick as the next president?

WRITTEN BY BRUH YIHUNBELAY
EthiopianReporter.com

China builds power and influence in Ethiopia

Chinese manufacturer Dongfang Electric is tipped to build a 120MW wind power facility at Aysha, in western Ethiopia, with funding from the China Exim Bank.

It is thought likely that a Chinese company will also be awarded a further 60MW at Aysha, again with Exim Bank support, in partnership with Ethiopia's state-owned Metal and Engineering Corporation.

This is in addition to the 51MW already turning at Adama I with Goldwind turbines and 153MW under construction at Adama II, powered by Sany. Both projects were awarded to HydroChina International Engineering Company in a joint-venture with Chinese construction group CGCOC and backed by the Exim Bank. HydroChina also helped draw up Ethiopia's wind and solar energymaster plan in 2012.

By contrast, the sole European initiative is the 120MW Ashegoda facility, which French manufacturer Vergnet is currently completing using Vergnet and Alstom turbines, with funding from France. The European Investment Bank has also expressed interest in backing another 120MW at Aysha. The project would then be open to international tender.

Ethiopia offers incentives to woo South Korean investors

Ethiopia has invited South Korean companies to take advantage of its fast growing economy, large population, substantial market opportunities, air transport network and a conducive investment regime with a wide array of incentives for new investments.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, told visiting president of South Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Mr. Young-Mok Kim, to encourage Korean firms to turn their eyes to the East African country since it appreciates the existing bilateral development cooperation.

KOICA’s major activity in Ethiopia centres on increasing industrial capacity through vocational training, but Mr. Kim, who visited a KOICA model village in Oromia Regional State, said the agency would expand its activities in rural development.

In a statement Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here quoted Dr. Adhanom as saying that he appreciated the development cooperation between South Korea and Ethiopia and expressed the hope that the historic ties between the two countries would grow through increased investment and cooperation.

The minister noted that his visit to South Korea this year enabled him to appreciate the growing interest of big companies such as SamSung to invest in Ethiopia.

He said that Ethiopia offered huge opportunities to South Korean investors interested in floriculture, a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens.

Ethiopia: Antiretroviral Drugs to Be Manufactured Locally 

Despite decrease in HIV prevalence nationally, stakeholders stress the need to strengthen fight against the epidemic. In a joint press briefing on Friday, institutions working on HIV/AIDS called for intensified efforts against HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Yibeltal Assefa of the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) underlined the need to work more on antiretroviral drugs. According to the institute, preparations are underway to start manufacturing antiretroviral drugs locally in two years' time.

Meskele Lera, eputy director of the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, said HIV prevalence is higher among the working population. Dr. Mebratu Firehiwot, representing Ministry of Health, said ongoing activities with respect to prevention and control of HIV/AIDS are bearing fruit. He said the activities should be strengthened further.

HIV prevalence in Ethiopia declined from 7 to 1.6 percent over the past years whereas HIV/AIDS-related deaths also dropped by 90 percent, it was indicated.