Day: August 23, 2023

Ethio-Jordan Relations Progressing in Many Areas: Ambassador Ensour

The Ethio-Jordan bilateral relations are progressing in many fields, Ambassador Zuhair Ensour told ENA.

Jordan's Ambassador to Ethiopia, Zuhair Ensour, said that the relations have been moving forward in many fields, including in people-to-people, cultural, and tourism sectors.

According to him, an Ethiopian delegation in Amman is planning to open an Ethiopian Embassy in Amman because there are more than 33,000 Ethiopians staying in Jordan; and this is a very huge community.

The diplomatic relationship between Jordan and Ethiopia is very strong, and the countries also cooperate in the global arena.

“There is cooperation in the field of economy, politics, and culture,” he stated.

High-level visits between the two countries are starting to move and the bilateral relations are showing some progress.

Ambassador Ensour said an agreement in the labor field was renewed last week, referring to the agreement signed between the representatives of the two countries to regulate recruitment.

He believes that the cooperation between the two countries is great, except in the economy.

The ambassador stressed that trade exchange between Ethiopia and Jordan needs to be scaled up as it is about 22 million USD a year.

There are some Jordanian investors in Ethiopia engaged mainly in the manufacturing and agro-processing sectors, he noted, adding that Jordanian investors are happy and ready to invest in Ethiopia.

“When the economy is ready, we are ready to move and bring Jordan investors who are happy to invest in Ethiopia,” Ambassador Zuhair said.

On the other hand, officials from the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited Amman a few weeks ago and met with high-level officials.

They are most welcome and we are pushing them to hurry up to open the mission in Amman.

He further revealed that the Government of Jordan has provided land to the Ethiopian Christian Tewahdo Church to build a church for the Ethiopian community around the holy site of the Jordan River.

We are waiting for them to build the church, the ambassador said.

Moreover, there are four Ethiopian flights from Addis Ababa to Amman every week that strengthen ties between the countries.

Ethiopia and Jordan are making progress in their diplomatic relations, but there is still room for greater bilateral and multilateral collaboration for the mutual benefit of both nations.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Cameroon now has a diplomatic representative in Serbia

Cameroonian Ambassador to Italy, Mr Foumane Sébastien has been appointed Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cameroon to the Republic of Serbia but his residence will remain in Rome, Italy where he has been serving since October 26, 2020.

He was appointed by the president of the Republic Paul Biya in a decree on Tuesday August 22, 2023. The diplomat is also Cameroon’s representative at United Nations Institutions in Rome.

This appointment is expected to facilitate services to Cameroonians in Serbia who had been relying on neighboring Cameroonian embassies and consulates generals in Austria, Italy and Turkey.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Douala: City Mayor announces ban on Canal plus products from advertisement spaces

The Mayor of the Douala City Council has said all Canal plus products will be prohibited from being advertised in any form around Douala, from September 15.

Dr. Roger Mbassa Ndine, said the reason is the non-payment of the “rights relating to the advertisements on the places of sale.”

He pointed out that “the decision is related to the usage of advertisement spaces and not the advertising fee”.

The mayor’s announcement comes at a time when the French TV provider is gaining more popularity in Cameroon.

He said the non-respect of his decision will expose the defaulters to severe sanctions.

The director of the municipal police, internal security, and advertisement managers, have been asked to ensure its implementation.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Lifeless body of woman found in Santa Barbara

The corpse of a woman in her late 30s was discovered on August 22, 2023 at the Santa Barbara neighborhood in Yaounde.

The identity card on her indicates that her name is Meiada Tchuissi Patricia born in 1985 in Yaounde, an accountant by profession.

According to the population in the neighborhood, they noticed the corpse early in the morning and presumed she was murdered at night and dumbed by the road side.

“I woke up this morning, as I was preparing to step out, I noticed this lady lying here dead. I alerted the neighbors and everyone was shocked. She was certainly killed very early this morning and dumped here because her blood still looks fresh,” one of the witnesses said.

Gendarmes were spotted on the scene to begin investigations.

The high level of insecurity in the Santa Barbara neighborhood has been alarming for the past months as cases of theft and murder, have systematically been reported on a daily basis.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Marble Capital offers N500m halal fixed income fund

Marble Capital Ltd., frontline Ethical and Islamic Fund Manager, is offering a N500 million Marble Halal Fixed Income Fund (MHFIF) an investment opportunity for risk-averse investors.

Dr Akeem Oyewale, Marble Capital’s Managing Director, via a statement on Wednesday in Lagos, said the investment opportunity was for risk-averse investors with appetite for steady income.

Oyewale said by its prospectus, MHFIF, offered at N100 per unit at par, was an open-ended unit trust scheme that placed premium on investments in Sukuk Bond and other Shariah-compliant debt and fixed income instruments.

He stated that under the Initial Public Offering (IPO) the holding period for an investment in the Fund was 90 days though unit holders would be issued with electronic statements as evidence of ownership.

” The Marble Fixed Income Fund offers several compelling investment propositions.

“The product, accessible with a minimum investment of N10,000, has prospects for capital preservation.

“It is Shariah compliant, with minimal risk, diversification opportunities, highly liquid with capacity for competitive returns, thus making it a distinct choice for investors seeking both profit and ethical alignments,” he said.

Oyewale said that another unique feature of the fund was that it continuously created additional units separate from its initial offering throughout its life.

According to him, investors can redeem units of such fund in line with the provisions of the trust deed.

“The fund will seek to distribute, semi-annually in arrears, net income to unit holders in line with existing regulations, subject to profits realised.

“The income of the fund, net of expenses, to be distributed periodically will be determined by the fund manager in the best interest of the unit holders according to the prospectus,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the company in April, launched its famous N3 billion Marble Halal Commodities Fund (MHCF), domiciled in agro-economic and extractive sector.

The MHCF is the first SEC-approved commodities mutual fund in Nigeria.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Stakeholders advocate e-commerce integration to boost $3.4trn AfCFTA market

Business community stakeholders on Wednesday, urged entrepreneurs and exporters on the integration of e-commerce to fully exploit the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) 3.4 trillion dollars market.

They spoke at a masterclass workshop and exporters on-boarding in Lagos with the theme: “Operationalising the AfCFTA Agreement for Nigerian Businesses through E-Commerce Channel”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop is to promote electronic commercialisations among entrepreneurs as well as deliberate on how e-commerce can further promote AFCFTA.

Dr Michael Olawale-Cole, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), noted that the AfCFTA would create the largest free trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating.

He stated that while the trade agreement had the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, achieving its full potentials would depend on significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures; one of which was e-commerce.

Olawale-Cole noted that the number of internet users in Africa increased to 601.94 million in 2022 from 590.30 million in 2021, resulting in 43.2 per cent internet penetration rate.

He, however, said that compared to other regions in the world, internet penetration in Africa was the lowest, noting that Africa accounted for the lowest contribution to global e-commerce sales.

“These statistics are growth opportunities.

“E-commerce is expanding rapidly in Africa, presenting an important opportunity for accessing untapped regional, continental and global markets, creating jobs and improving living standards.

“To optimally harness the potential of AfCFTA, there is no doubt that e-commerce is strategic.

“For this reason, this workshop must be of interest to all stakeholders – policymakers, regulators, government and the business community, and the rest,” he said.

Mrs Uju Uzo- Ojinnaka, Chief Executive Officer, Traders of Africa (TOFA), said TOFA was an infrastructure for suppliers and buyers to trade, thereby creating visibility and access to Nigerian products and commodities online.

She noted that the goal of NAC- AfCFTA would assist in aggregating products to ensure that suppliers were able to sell their products to buyers who required large quantities.

“Also, there is training for suppliers on how to sell their products online/offline and assist them to build capabilities that would enable them to sell commercially viable quantities across Africa and beyond.

“TOFA is a Pan African hub for facilitating trade with and within Africa through technology and is committed to spreading the good news of AfCFTA via E-Commerce.

“TOFA can help push forward Nigerian and Africa’s trade in the next 5-10 years and is going to be the go-to place to source for any product coming out of Africa.” she said.

Mr Olusegun Awolowo, Executive Secretary, National Action Committee, AfCFTA (NAC-AfCFTA), noted that while trading officially began on Jan. 1, 2021, substantial trade could not occur because some critical structures and trading instruments needed to be in place.

Awolowo, represented by Dr Fatima Bello, Coordinator, Policies Regulations and Laws Workstream, AfCFTA, said an innovative interim approach called the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) was developed to stimulate and encourage trading.

He said the GTI, which marked a turning point for trading under the AfCFTA, was currently being prepared for phase two with Nigeria actively preparing to partake of it upon its launch in October.

“There are certain requirements which a State Party must fulfil to participate in the GTI.

“It has received a checklist of eight requirements from the AfCFTA Secretariat in Ghana which it is complying with and is currently in the process of complying with the last outstanding requirement,” he said.

Alhaji Sada Ladan-Baki, Chairman Export group, said trade levels in Africa was emerging with a lot of it presenting as informal.

He charged government to ensure that the right , encouraging message was sent to exporters to enable and facilitate trade under the AfCFTA.

“We have to get organised in a manner that our skilled work force goes in a structured manner so that we have good inflow.

“Countries like Philippines and India rely on their foreign remittances and that’s what AfCFTA is all about, the free mobility of labour done in a way that is beneficial to everyone,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria