The 4th World Coffee Conference kicks off in Addis Ababa

A two-day consultative forum aimed at appraising the achievements and gaps of the Ethiopian broadcast media, ensuring responsiveness, accountability, and pluralism, and thereby promoting national consensus opened today (March 07, 2016) at Hilton Addis.  Upon commending both the government and private media for the role they played in the process of forging economic development and democratization, Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen called a more enhanced media role in the prospect of promoting national consensus and building a common political and economic community. He further said the government has been working towards establishing a national steering committee in a bid to embark on successful digital transformation. Zerai Asgedom, General Manager of theEthiopian Broadcast Authority also underlined that the consultative forum targets at assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the broadcast media and spot the way forward. 

The 4th World Coffee Conference which is being held (March6-8, 2016) under the theme: “Nurturing coffee culture and diversity” kicked off today (March 07, 2016) in Addis Ababa at the Conference Hall of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in his keynote address expressed his gratitude to the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the International Coffee Organization as well as other stakeholders for organizing such a historic event. Describing coffee as is an important part of Ethiopia’s social fabric, Prime Minister Hailemariam said, Coffee is Ethiopia’s gift to the world, adding that his country is committed to sustainable coffee industry development. The prime Minister underlining on the need for fair distribution of the revenues of coffee noted that boosting the gain for small-scale farmers was demanding. On the prospect of minimizing the damage of climate change on the industry, he stressed on the importance of forging concerted efforts by coffee processors, exporters, governments and all other stakeholders in the value chain. The Prime Minister also emphasized on the instrumentality of enhancing women’s share in the industry. The Premier hoped that the conference would further deliberate on ways of dealing with the many challenges of the coffee industry and the way forward.