On March 14, Xue Bing, Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, met with Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The two sides conducted friendly and in-depth exchange of views on bilateral cooperation and major regional issues.
It should be emphasized that to support the Horn of Africa in realizing lasting peace, stability and prosperity, China is willing to act on the Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa, and continually play a constructive role for peace and development of the Horn of Africa and the African continent as a whole.
Chinese Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Affairs pays a visit to Ethiopia
EU brings relief to communities affected by the drought
The European Union has provided 11 million Birr in humanitarian funding to assist vulnerable families affected by an ongoing severe drought in Ethiopia. The drought, which is also affecting other countries in the greater Horn of Africa region, is having a severe impact in the north, east and south regions of Ethiopia, especially the Somali and Oromia regions.
Running for six months, from March to August 2022, this project will benefit 50,000 most vulnerable people in Moyale zone in Somali region and in Borena zone in Oromia region. The EU funds will support the Ethiopian Red Cross society in delivering much-needed emergency support to families, especially with basic livelihood assistance allowing families to buy food, and with health and nutrition assistance.
Since the drought has compromised water sources, the Ethiopian Red Cross will also use this funding to procure water storage containers and water treatment tablets for the targeted communities. Additionally, hygiene promotion and health-awareness activities in the affected communities will be carried out, together with the training of volunteers.
Over 21 million people received at least one dose of vaccine
One year ago, Ethiopia received its first COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX with a total of 2.2 million doses and lunched the COVID 19 vaccination on 13 March 2021. To date, more than 21.5 million people received at least one dose and more than 20.5 people have been fully vaccinated. Efforts are ongoing to increase vaccine uptake to reach a wider proportion of the population.
Since the first shipments, the country has so far received 45,411,750 COVID-19 vaccine doses, of which 40,696,550 are from COVAX, 1,005,200 from the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, 3,700,000 from bilateral donations, and 10,000 from CDC. A total of 28,705,008 doses of vaccines were administered since the launching.
Pandemic outbreak tops hospitality, leisure and tourism industry risks
Pandemic outbreak is the biggest concern for companies in the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2022. This risk receives the top ranking after Covid-19 led to large-scale business closures and supply chain disruption globally and brought tourism and aviation industries to an abrupt halt. However, while the pandemic continues to overshadow the economic outlook in this industry, encouragingly, businesses do feel they have adapted well.
“When asked how prepared their company is for a future event, the majority (80%) of Allianz Risk Barometer respondents believe they are ‘adequately’ or ‘well prepared’, although only 9% feel ‘very well prepared’. However, just 11% feel ‘inadequately prepared’. Initiating or improving business continuity management is the main action companies are taking to make them more resilient,” says Thusang Mahlangu, Chief Executive Officer at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) South Africa.
