Over 74 companies from 13 countries including places from Djibouti, Italy, Sudan, India, China and Korea came to the 22nd Addis Chamber International Trade Fair that opened last Thursday at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Centre. It is one of the oldest business fairs in the country and Elias Genete, president of the chamber called it a crucial event because he says it attracts global businesses that want to invest or expand in Ethiopia.
According to the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association, the organizer of the event, several companies that work with the ports in Djibouti were among the foreign exhibiters. The Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, Doraleh Multipurpose Port and other companies from Djibouti were involved in the seven day event.

Ethiopia ranked 116th out of 136 countries on the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. The Index that is published by the World Economic Forum measures the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector, which in turn, contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country.
The report also ranks the country at 118th for doing business environment, 99th place for safety and security 102th for health and hygiene, 125th for human resources and the labor market, 125th for ICT readiness, 115th on prioritization of tourism and travel and 97th on for international openness, among other ratings.
According to the report in 2017 there were 864,000 tourists who came to Ethiopia and international tourism inbound monetary receipts amounted to USD 394.9 million. Findings also show that the travel and tourism sector employs over one million people and is 4.1 percent of the GDP.
Regarding air travel, the index states that the countries that have been more active in signing bilateral agreements-Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa-have been able to create strong state-owned carriers. Some countries in West Africa rely on privately owned companies, while all other African countries still maintain unprofitable, inefficient and insecure publicly-owned national companies.
“Recently, the five countries with strong national carriers, private operators and small state-owned operators committed to a Single African Air Transport Market that should enter into force by the end of 2017. Air transport in particular, and transport infrastructure generally, remain, to date, the biggest challenges for travel & tourism development in Africa,” it reads.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index enables stakeholders to work together to improve the industry’s competitiveness in their national economies. The theme of the current edition “Paving the Way for a More Sustainable and Inclusive Future”, reflects the increasing focus on ensuring the industry’s sustained growth in an uncertain security environment while preserving the natural environment and local communities on which it so richly depends.

One in every 36 babies dies in Ethiopia according to a UNICEF report comparing newborn mortality in different countries. Pakistan and the Central African Republic are the worst performers.
“While we have more than halved the number of deaths among children under the age of five in the last quarter century, we have not made similar progress in ending deaths among children less than one month old. The majority of these deaths are preventable so clearly we are failing the world’s poorest babies, “said Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF’s Executive Director.
Ethiopia is the second largest country in Africa with a total population of 94 million, out of which 13 million are under five years of age. Despite making overall progress in child survival, deaths among newborn babies still remains high.
At 29 deaths per 1,000 live births, newborn mortality accounts for 44 per cent of all under five deaths. The new report indicates that in 2016 alone, 90,000 newborn babies died in Ethiopia, ranking the country among 10 high burden countries globally.
In recognition of the need to accelerate newborn survival, the Ethiopian government has put newborn survival at the centre of the Health Sector Development Plan.
It has developed the Newborn and Child Survival Strategy (2015-2020) to strengthen the capacity of the health system and the skills of health workers to deliver quality health care to every mother and newborn baby. This includes the provision of quality antenatal care, skilled delivery, essential newborn care, postnatal care and neonatal intensive care for sick neonates.
Globally, in low-income countries, the average newborn mortality rate is 27 deaths per 1,000 births, the report says. In high-income countries, that rate is 3 deaths per 1,000. Newborns from the riskiest places to give birth are up to 50 times more likely to die than those from the safest places.
More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths are due to prematurity, complications during birth or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis, the report says. These deaths can be prevented with access to well-trained midwives, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact and good nutrition.
However, a shortage of well-trained health workers and midwives means that thousands don’t receive the life-saving support they need to survive. For example, while in Norway there are 218 doctors, nurses and midwives to serve 10,000 people, that ratio is 1 per 10,000 in Somalia.