The activities of the Djibouti Sovereign Fund (Fonds Souverain de Djibouti – FSD) were officially launched on Monday, September 14, following the implementation decrees promulgated on June 24, 2020, a special inter-ministerial committee was held under President Ismaël Omar Guelleh, in the presence of the Prime Minister, members of the government and the Fund’s administrators.
The Sovereign Fund is said to be an ambitious and innovative financial instrument aimed at turbocharging the country’s development.
“It will strive to modernize the country’s economy, to boost the growth of a competitive private sector and to enhance the development of the public productive sector, one of the essential instruments of this transformation,” reads a statement sent to Capital.
The creation of the FSD is a flagship measure of the “Vision 2035”, a long-term development strategy of Djibouti which aims to position the country as a leading commercial, logistics, port and digital hub.
Established in the form of a private limited company whose sole shareholder is and will remain the State of Djibouti, the Fund aims to “collect” national wealth to leverage Djibouti’s ability to invest quickly. The FSD will allow better control of projects while focusing on the national and strategic interests of the country.
“The FSD will play the role of a strong and committed partner sought by external and domestic investors. The Fund acts both for growth and for today’s employment while working on creating a diversified economy and building reserves for new generations. It is an intergenerational instrument that brings together the requirements of the short term with those of the long term,” the statement further reads.
The launching ceremony was attended by co-chairmen of SouthBridge, Donald Kaberuka and Lionel Zinsou, as well as William Ediko, partner, who advised Djibouti in setting up the Fund. Also present, Amir Jahanguiri, partner at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who advised the government for this project.
The holding of the inter-ministerial committee also formalize the appointment of the Managing Director of the FSD, the Senegalese Mamadou Mbaye. A seasoned professional, Mbaye is a graduate of École Polytechnique and École nationale de la statistique et de l’administration économique (ENSAE) in France. He was previously Vice-President of the Sovereign Fund for Strategic Investments of Senegal (Fonsis).
Djibouti launches the Djibouti Sovereign Fund
EFDA’s new and sturdy regulatory strategy
Ethiopia launches new regulatory preparedness and mitigation strategy as a result of past experience, the current COVID 19 threat and other emerging public health threats which affect the stability of the global medical products supply. Following these threats, the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) has set up a regulatory strategy to help with the preparedness and mitigation strategies for emerging threats.
According to the authority, the strategy will help to protect and improve access to quality-assured medical products and protect the safety of patients and the public during health threats. Furthermore, it seeks to protect patients from falsified and substandard medical products.
The strategy aims to facilitate and accelerate priority research and innovations Including clinical trials, enhancement of Pharmacovigilance aspects, development of legal and guidance documents through working with the Ministry of Health to rapidly identify where flexibility in the regulation of medical products can prevent and respond to substandard and falsified medical products circulating in the market.
According to the authority during the pandemic situation, lack of medical products including medical supplies and personal protective equipment might have led to an increasing rate of infections and poor control of the pandemic. In addition illegal manufacturing, importation, and distribution of medical products are a challenge. Similarly, various actors have been taking the opportunity of gaps in product availability and repeated shortage to proliferate illegal practices that could endanger public safety. Public health emergencies might also exacerbate the ongoing problems of substandard and falsified medical products.
The regulation focuses on dealing with emerging health threats that could happen by biological, chemical, and other unknown elicit ways. It curbs this by ensuring sustained access to innovation, safe quality assured and effective medical products through mitigating medical products shortages during a public health emergency situation by building networks with academic research institutions and relevant stakeholders and partners.
Regular discussion held with local manufacturers and suppliers of medical products as well as interaction with Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) provides early warnings and response systems. Furthermore, regular interaction and information sharing with international organizations and regional organizations presents wider scope of understanding.
As stated on the regulatory strategy, at a time of health threats the authority should launch an Emergency steering committee, standing committee and an enforcement task force to mitigate the shortage of medical products and for containment of substandard and falsified medical products. The authority will intervene by setting up a system that enables the availability of medical products by considering a forecasted shortage and reviewing the risk of supply chain distribution for critically needed medical products.
The authority is mandated to lead regulatory services which contribute to the success of critical public health decisions made by the government. The Ethiopian public health institute is then responsible for the overall management and coordination of public health emergencies under the leadership of the Ministry of Health.
Former IAAF President Lamine Diack jailed for 2 years
There was widespread criticism in Senegal Wednesday after the decision taken by a French court to sentence former track federation president Lamine Diack to two years in prison for corruption during his tenure at the IAAF.
There was widespread criticism in Senegal Wednesday after the decision taken by a French court to sentence former track federation president Lamine Diack to two years in prison for corruption during his tenure at the IAAF. People accused the court of racism and said the verdict should be struck down.
Diack was allegedly involved in a scheme that allowed Russian athletes to keep competing when they should have been suspended for doping, after they paid millions in hush money.
The guilty verdict in a Paris court represented a spectacular fall from grace for the 87-year-old Diack, who was the head of the IAAF from 1999-2015, mixed with global leaders and was influential in the world of Olympic sports. The court also gave Diack a two year suspended sentence and fined him 500,000 euros ($590,000).
Diack was found guilty of multiple corruption charges and breach of trust but acquitted of a money laundering charge. Wearing a white robe he sat impassive in front of chief judge, Rose-Marie Hunault as she read out the guilty verdict and sentence.
The judge detailed his role in the payoff scheme, dubbed “full protection”, that squeezed Russian athletes suspected of doping for about 3.2 million euros ($3.74 million) in hush money. The court also handed guilty verdicts to five other people, including Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack, who worked as an IAAF marketing consultant.
The judge said $15 million was funneled to the younger Diack’s companies while his father was in charge at the IAAF. He lives in Senegal, which has refused to extradite him. The court sentenced him in his absence to five years in prison and a fine of 1 million euros ($1.17 million).
Ethiopian Football Men’s and Women’s Instructors name came official
Following the pressure from Ethiopian Professional Footballers Association over the credibility of Ethiopian Football Instructors, Football Federation came forward to make public names and numbers of Instructors in the country. The Federation also introduced the CAF Coaching Convention that would pave a way to a newly structured and regulated system to ensure top quality delivery of courses in terms of organization and content. In the Conference held at the federations head quarter at Bole Road.
EFF Secretary General Baheru Telahun, Football Development and Technical Committee Chair Person Sewnet Bishaw and former national Coach Abraham Mebratu were the presenters of the announcement that makes the water clear for the sport’s family that had been in the dark for years.
Though weather the previous status stands or not was not yet clear for the Confederation of African Football halted CAF Courses in member associations, the names of seven male and four women instructors including few personalities unheard of in the sport’s circle.
Though none of them have no proven back history of playing Football, former Yemen Olympic team Coach Abraham Mebratu leads the short list as the only Elite Instructor in Ethiopia while Sewnet Bishaw, national Technical Director Mekonen Kuru, former Lucy Coach Abraham T/Haimanot, South Africa based Anteneh Eshete, Dr Sirak H/Mariam, Dr Getachew Abebe and Ato Daniel G/Mariam are the Instructors.
Former Lucy Coach who helped Diredawa Ketema men’s team in to top tier promotion Meseret Manny, former Kidus Giorgis Coach Selam Zeray, Behailua Zeleka and Hiwot Arefeayne are the Women Instructors who has better credited for having football playing experience at club level.
