Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The Council of Ministers has approved loan agreements, investment promotion and protection agreement as well as bilateral cooperation agreements during its 54th regular session held today.
Top on the agenda of the Council of Ministers were two loan agreements of eighty million Euros from the French Development Agency, and one hundred and ten million Euros from the European Investment Bank.
The first will be used for the implementation of the National Economic Reform Plan and the second for the improvement of micro-finance in rural areas, according to the Council of Ministers.
Confirming that both loan agreements are in line with the country’s credit management policy, the Council forwarded the draft proclamations to the House of People’s Representatives.
Next was discussed the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement regarding the Urea Fertilizer Manufacturing and Processing Factory in the country.
The main objectives of the agreement are to create an enabling environment for lenders to obtain the necessary capital by meeting the strict criteria used by lenders to provide loans for projects in developing countries like Ethiopia, to meet domestic demand by producing fertilizer domestically, to avoid high foreign exchange costs for fertilizer procurement, and to achieve the efforts to become self-sufficient in food grains.
The Council approved the signing and implementation of this agreement by the Ministry of Finance.
It also discussed the draft proclamation on cyber security of key infrastructures. After enriching the draft proclamation, the Council unanimously referred it to the House of People’s Representatives.
The Council has also discussed 6 draft bilateral agreements and forwarded them to the House of People’s Representatives.
The agreements with Vietnam and Russian Federation regard the exemption of visas for holders of diplomatic or service passports, and the establishment of a joint biological research center, respectively.
In addition, 4 air services agreements with Eswatini, Angola, Bangladesh, and Sierra Leone were approved.
The agreements allow Ethiopian Airlines to operate passenger and cargo flights to the capitals of the countries under the 3rd and 4th traffic rights, to operate representative airlines in partnership, to operate flights to selected destinations under the 5th traffic right, and to strengthen Ethiopia’s bilateral relations with the countries, it was noted.
Finally, the Council discussed the regulation on the establishment of the Ethiopian Fire and Other Emergency Services. It unanimously decided to publish the regulation in the Federal Gazette and take effect from the date of its publication.
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