The Federal Court of First Instance officially launches a divisional court solely focused on Trade and Investment in the vicinity of the former “British Council” building around piazza.
The 12th divisional trial, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tagese Chafo, President of the Federal Supreme Court, Honorable Meaza Ashenafi, and Vice President of the Federal Supreme Court, Solomon Areda attended the event held on Sunday October 9, 2022.

The trail, which is composed of 11 hearings, deals only with construction, investment, and banking and insurance issues. Five of the hearings under the classification hearing are assigned to commercial matters, and the other five hearings are assigned to banking and insurance matters. The remaining one hearing is assigned to deal with construction related issues. The trial was started on June, 2022.
The divisional court is composed of 14 judges and five assistant judges. The assigned judges have at least a second degree and their education is in business and construction law. Records that are opened in this category are classified by the judge through the technology system developed “out of human contact”.
The divisional court has a “Court Facilitator” section where cases in construction, business, banking, and insurance cases are settled by agreement before they go to trial.
In addition to this, the divisional hearing also has a teleconference room that allows disputing parties to debate and hear witnesses and obtain various decisions without being required to appear in person.
“The Supreme Court is a starting point for paying attention to business and investment, the Divisional Court has started providing technology-assisted services by implementing the court’s case flow management guidelines and court compliance guidelines,” said Foad Kiar, President of the Federal First Instance Court.

China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) Ethiopia Office celebrates its 3 year anniversary in a colorful ceremony held at the Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa on October 10, 2022.
The organization, formerly known as China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, started implementing various programs in Ethiopia back in 2015 and was officially registered as an international charitable organization in the East African country in July 2019, with works to deepen the people-to-people ties between Ethiopia and China.
Jima Dilbo, Director General of Ethiopia’s Authority for Civil Society Organization, during the occasion commended CFRD for its seven years of charitable services in the East African country through various projects such as school feeding, school bag distribution, food item support, water and hygiene program, and women’s economic empowerment.
Yang Yihang, Minister Counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said CFRD’s engagements in Ethiopia have brought fruitful results, and have contributed a lot to the economic and social development of Ethiopia.
CFRD International Development Director, Wu Peng, during the ceremony of the celebrations for the 3rd anniversary of the establishment of the China Foundation for Rural Development, shared that the commitment to internationalization and sharing experiences will be the top priorities of Chinese NGOs including CFRD. Wu Peng also shared detailed reports for participants about the last three years’ contribution of the office to the Ethiopian community.
High-level participants from different offices including the main Director of Authority for civil societies’ organizations, the China Embassy Minister-Counselor, the China Chamber of Commerce, and Chinese enterprises and partners also shared their views.
Since 2015, the CFRD has been undertaking various programs in Ethiopia, including the Panda Pack, Smiling Children, water cellar, water purification, and women employment training. More than 250,000 Ethiopian people across all walks of life with a particular emphasis on the most vulnerable people have benefited from the various initiatives of foundation.

The Ethiopian Airlines Group announces the completion of passenger to freighter conversion of one of its three B767 aircraft. This comes in light of the group’s partnership with the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) which led to the launch of the B767-300ER freighter conversion line at Ethiopian MRO facilities in Addis Ababa.
The airline brought these aircraft models in 2004 and the conversion is aimed at replacing these ageing airplanes with ultramodern and technologically-advanced passenger aircraft to provide utmost comfort and convenience for passengers. The conversion of the aircraft into freighters also boosts the airline’s cargo shipment capacity enhancing its service.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Israel Aerospace Industries and become the first African carrier to successfully complete the passenger- to -cargo conversion of B767 aircraft. As a fast growing airline, our partnership with IAI, one of the global technology leaders in the Aerospace industry, is crucial in technology and skill transfer in the field of maintenance, repair and overhaul. Ethiopian Airlines is committed to get closer to its customers with high quality cargo services. In addition to our latest freighter fleets, the converted B767 aircraft will augment our growing local and international cargo destinations with more load capacities. We have been working to expand our cargo operation as demand is expected to grow with the establishment of an e-commerce hub in Addis Ababa,” said Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Mesfin Tasew.

In partnership with the Israel Aerospace Industries, Ethiopian started the full conversion of its B767 passenger aircraft at the continent’s largest maintenance, overhaul and repair center in Addis Ababa in early this year. The airline has completed the conversion of one of its three B767 aircraft while the conversion of the second aircraft has reached an essential stage of door cutting and will be completed in few months.
Ethiopian Airlines has been hailed for its key role in the global distribution of medical supplies and vaccines. Its cargo wing has served as a lifeline for the airline during the difficult times of the pandemic. Ethiopian had temporarily converted around 25 of its wide-body passenger aircraft into freighters using its in-house MRO capability which boosted its cargo operations and enabled it to transport around 1billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine around the globe.
Ethiopian has been expanding its cargo operation in all corners of the globe introducing latest technology freighter fleet. Currently, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services covers more than 130 international destinations around the world with both belly hold capacity and 67 dedicated Freighter services.
Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services, one of the major strategic business units within Ethiopian Airlines Group, has won Best Cargo Airline-Africa and Cargo Airline of the Year at the Air Cargo News Awards 2022.
In a related development Ethiopian Airlines and the French Embassy celebrated the 125th

Anniversary of the start of bilateral relations between Ethiopia and France at Ethiopian Skylight Hotel on 13 October 2022 through a business gathering which brought together executives of Ethiopian Airlines and French companies engaged in the aviation sector.
French aviation and technology companies including Airbus, SAFRAN, and Thales made presentations on their products and services to executives of Ethiopian Airlines.
French Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union Remi Marechaux and Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Mesfin Tasew, hailed Ethio-French relations as historic.
Ethiopian Airlines has been working with several French aviation companies including Airbus, SAFRA and Thales.
Ethiopian Airlines began operating the first French made Aircraft ATR 42 in 1990. Ethiopian which has been operating mainly Boeing aircraft for decades acquired the Airbus A350-900 in June 2016, the first African carrier to own and operate the type. The national airline is currently operating 18 A350-900 jetliners and has six more on order (four of them are A350-1000).