Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing announced a commitment to purchase two 777 Freighters at the 2017 Paris Air Show, valued at $651.4 million at list prices.

The airline also announced an order for 10 additional 737 MAX 8 airplanes. The 10 737 MAX options being exercised were part of a deal signed in September 2014, completing the largest ever order for the 737 MAX in Africa.

Ethiopian now has firm orders for 30 737 MAX 8s. The order was previously attributed to an unidentified customer on Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries website.

“Building one of the largest cargo terminals in the world and operating newgeneration, high-performance aircraft reflects our commitment in expanding and supporting the exponentially growing imports and exports of our country in particular and the African continent in general. The commitment to purchase 2 B777 Freighters is expected to boost the Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services,” said Tewolde GebreMariam, GCEO of Ethiopian Airlines.

“The 737 MAX will form a key component of our strategic roadmap, vision 2025, enhancing our single-aisle fleet and keeping us at the forefront of African aviation. This is a continuation of the longstanding and commendable business partnership we had established with Boeing.” The 777 Freighter, the world’s longest-range twin-engine freighter, is based on the technologically advanced 777-200LR (Longer Range) passenger airplane and can fly 4,900 nautical miles (9,070 kilometers) with a full payload of 112 tons (102 metric tonnes or 102,000 kg).

“The 777 Freighter’s range capability, combined with its enhanced cargo capacity, makes it the perfect airplane for Ethiopian to continue to profitably grow its global freighter service, linking trade routes between Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia,” said Ihssane Mounir senior vice president of Global Sales & Marketing Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

“We are also delighted to be able to announce an additional order for 10 737 MAXs. This order is a continued endorsement by Ethiopian of the 737 MAXs efficiency, range, reliability and operating costs.”

The 737 MAX incorporates the latest technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines, Advanced Technology winglets and other improvements to deliver the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market.

The 737 MAX is the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history, accumulating more than 3,700 orders from 87 customers worldwide. Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the flag carrier of Ethiopia. During the past seventy plus years, Ethiopian has become one of the continent’s leading carriers, unrivalled in Africa for efficiency and operational success, turning profits for almost all the years of its existence.

Operating at the forefront of technology, the airline has also become one of Ethiopia’s major industries and a veritable institution in Africa. It commands a lion’s share of the pan African network including the daily and double daily east-west flight across the continent. Ethiopian currently serves 100 international and 21 domestic destinations operating the newest and youngest fleet.

The Boeing 777’s unique combination of superior range, outstanding fuel efficiency and passenger-preferred comfort has created long-range success for carriers around the world, according to Boeing. “The 777-300ER now gives operators a perfect opportunity to extend that success. Recent upgrades further reduce costs and boost revenue, and the 777’s flying experience is still number one with passengers,” the company says.

Egypt's El-Sisi, Ethiopian Premier Confirm Attendance of Nile Summit
By Frederic Musisi

Kampala — Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Ethiopian premier Hailemariam Desalegne, have both confirmed attendance of the make or break Nile Basin States Summit in Kampala tomorrow. The conference is expected to bring to an end the contention over a new framework for sharing and use of the waters of River Nile.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the matter told Daily Monitor that the summit, that was initially slated for today, was moved to tomorrow at the request of Ethiopia for yet unknown reasons. This is the third time the meeting has been rescheduled.

Egypt and Ethiopia have long-standing disputes over the sharing of the Nile waters, a matter that has sucked in other Nile Riparian states of Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, the Sudan, Egypt, and Eritrea, which all share the river's catchment area.

About River Nile

Spanning an estimated 4,132 miles long, River Nile is considered the longest river in the world.

Sources privy to the details of the meeting indicated that the Sudan will be represented by Vice President Hassabo Mohammed Abdurrahman, Burundi by second vice president Joseph Butore, South Sudan by vice president James Wani Igga, Rwanda by the minister of minerals and natural resources Vincent Biruta, and Kenya by water minister Eugene Wamalwa.

Tanzania will be represented at the summit by foreign affairs minister Augustine Mahiga, and DR Congo by the minister of environment and sustainable development Ambatore Nyongolo.

President Museveni in March called the summit to arbitrate the matter, maintaining that disagreements that "never come to end are either because of disinformation or misinformation."

The Riparian States 17 years ago established the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), an intergovernmental body to iron out differences over sharing of the Nile waters, and in 2010, a new charter known as the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) or the Entebbe Agreement, was adopted to guide a new course of cooperation.

While Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, DR Congo, Ethiopia, and Kenya signed the framework, Egypt and the Sudan declined insisting on the pre-colonial agreements which grants them bigger quotas of the Nile waters but which the former interpret[ed] as granting "monopoly" over the river. Egypt signed an agreement with Britain in 1929, while the Sudan signed a similar pact with Britain in 1959; granting them larger quotas of the river flow.

The Nile's annual volume of flow was estimated at 85 billion cubic metres at the Aswan High Dam by the colonial agreements, which granted Egypt a 75 per cent share (55.5 billion cubic metres) and 25 per cent (18.5 billion cubic metres) to the Sudan with the assumption that the other countries upstream can get water through other sources, including rain or even fresh water lakes.

Egypt [and the Sudan] declined to sign the CFA specifically over Article 14(b) which requires members "not to significantly affect the water security of any other Nile Basin States."

What it means

What this means is that upstream countries; Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan cannot undertake any activities, like irrigation or dam construction, which could significantly affect Egypt's [or Sudan's] allocated water quotas.

The CFA however allows the upstream countries to undertake activities as long as they consult widely with and notify other members especially those that significantly depend on the river.

Sudan made U-turn and requested for admission into the CFA leaving Egypt outside alone.

Politics aside, the stakes over the river are rising every day, especially in light of changing socio-economic dynamics in the Nile basin among others high population growth, climate change, infrastructure development, and environmental degradation.

Adinbried — It's one thing to read about the exodus of souls flowing out of Eritrea, it's quite another to look into the tired eyes, surrounded by dust and grime, of a 14-year-old Eritrean girl who's just arrived on the Ethiopian side of the shared border.

She is carrying a scruffy plastic bag. Inside are a few clothes, an orange beaker, and a small torch whose batteries have nearly run out.

With her are four men, two women and five younger children, all of whom crossed the Eritrea-Ethiopia border the night before. Ethiopian soldiers found them and took them to the town of Adinbried.

The compound of simple government buildings where they were dropped off constitutes a so-called entry point, one of 12 along the border. It marks the beginning of the bureaucratic and logistical conveyor belt to assign asylum status to those arriving, before finally moving them to one of four refugee camps designated for Eritreans in Ethiopia's Tigray region.

"It took us four days traveling from Asmara," a 31-year-man among the group says about their trek from the Eritrean capital, about 80 kilometres north of the border. "We travelled for 10 hours each night, sleeping in the desert during the day."

In February 2017, 3,367 Eritrean refugees arrived in Ethiopia, according to the Ethiopian Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA). There are around 165,000 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia, according to the UN refugee agency.

Ethiopia's open-door policy is in marked contrast to the strategies of migrant reduction increasingly being adopted in many Western societies.

ADDIS ABABA, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday highlighted the importance of implementing the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Ethiopia when holding talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn here.

Under the leaderships of the two countries, China-Ethiopia relations have seen comprehensive and rapid development in the recent years, Wang said.

The foreign minister expressed China's keen interest to deepen China-Ethiopia cooperation in six priority areas: exchanges on governing a state, peace and security, capacity cooperation, human resources, aviation and coordination on global and regional issues.

For his part, Hailemariam said Ethiopia is willing to take the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to speed up the transformation of the Ethiopian economy.

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013 consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

Becoming China's comprehensive strategic partner of cooperation has injected an important impetus into the development of the bilateral relations, he said.

The prime minister also commended China for its long-standing support for Ethiopia and fully agreed on the six priority areas of cooperation proposed by the Chinese side.

Chinese business delegation sparkles at Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA - A delegation of 70 companies from Shenzhen city, China's innovation hub, is attending a show in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and locals are thrilled about the ample business opportunities on the horizon.

The delegation is in the east African country for the China (Shenzhen) Trade and Investment Promotion Meeting and Shenzhen Products show from Monday to Tuesday.

Lu Pengqi, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPTI) says there is good reason why business delegation from Shenzhen will attract attention.

"With Shenzhen's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching at $283 billion in 2016 and GDP per capita standing at $25,000, the city is one of China's most developed and richest," Lu said.

Shenzhen transformed from little more than a fishing village to "China's Silicon Valley" in less than 40 years. It is home to a population of nearly 12 million and more than 5,300 Chinese enterprises including tech giants Huawei, ZTE, and Tencent, which in total have made overseas investments estimated at $80 billion.

While trade relations between Ethiopia and its top trading partner China has reached $3.6 billion in 2016, investment from Shenzhen city and Guangdong province to Ethiopia still lags compared to other Chinese provinces, says Tadesse Haile, Ethiopia's state Minister of Industry.

"Ethiopia offers Shenzhen a huge market as a next best destination in Africa, complemented by its desire to be a leading light manufacturing hub and middle income economy by 2025," says Haile.

Ethiopia's state minister of Industry was in particular referring to Shenzhen's reputation for knowledge intensive industries in addition to labor intensive industries like Textile and leather.

With Shenzhen popularly called China's "Silicon valley" for its reputation as innovation and entrepreneurship center, Ethiopia plans to tap its Information Communications Technology (ICT) ambitions on experiences from the likes of this entrepreneurial Chinese city.

The East African nation with a population of about 100 million, is focusing on labor intensive industries like textiles and leather to give its 45 million workforce mass employment while hoping ICT will give it a technological edge.

Already Chinese government is facilitating business capacity training and management skills to Ethiopian business community and experts.

It is hoped that this will help in fostering technological innovation and creative talent as a springboard for competitive export to the global economy.

Ethiopia hopes to transform its largely agrarian economy with manufacturing taking 50 percent share of GDP, creating annually 2 million job opportunity for youth.

"Ethiopia is at a crossroads between the Middle East, Africa and Asia giving access to wide market and huge human capacity as well as capable of creating large job opportunity," says Afework Solomon, President of Ethiopia's Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECSA).

Fitsum Arega, Commissioner of the state owned Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) points to another advantage the country has to attract Shenzhen investors.

"Ethiopia has constructed, is constructing or plans to construct 13 industrial zones across the country using Chinese expertise and companies for the most part," he says.

Arega also points labor cost being 10 times cheaper than Shenzhen, companies can invest in sectors like textile and apparel and be assured of good return on their investments.

Already Ethiopia gives a 10-15 years tax holiday on companies investing in its industry parks while giving access to duty free European and US markets.

Arega further spoke about Ethiopia's ambitions in energy sector, requesting Shenzhen's experience in particular with solar and wind projects.

Ethiopia is currently undertaking large solar, wind, hydro and geothermal projects with a plan to increase its electricity generation capacity from current 4,200 MW to 17,300 MW by 2020.

While the first day of the trade and investment promotion meeting focused on hard statistics there was another reason, Ethiopian business people and officials welcome investment from Chinese cities like Shenzhen.

"Ethiopia feels at ease with Chinese businesses with China's economic achievement of becoming the world's second biggest economy in a short time being an inspiration," says Solomon.

That ease has translated into Chinese exports accounting for about 87 percent of Ethiopia's import in 2013.

It has also meant that between 1992-2014, 814 Chinese private companies' invested and commissioned projects valued at $1.6 billion.