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Puntland administration lifts ban on BBC reporters

Bahrain's Ministry of Commerce signals new boost to  e-commerce by adopting bolero.net platform

Bolero.net's secure electronic document exchange system to accelerate Kingdom's e-commerce initiatives

January 29, 2003

MANAMA - Under the patronage of the Minister for Commerce, the Ministry of Commerce in Bahrain took concrete steps to endorse its support of e-commerce in the kingdom yesterday (Wednesday, January 29, 2003), by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the global community of bolero.net, the world's most secure electronic document exchange system for global trade. The Ministry announced its cooperation with Bolero MENA to use the bolero.net platform for secure document exchange in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The announcement was made at a major conference attended by top officials from the Ministry the delegation from bolero.net and members of the media at the Bahrain International Centre.

Addressing the conference, Dr. Abdulla Mansoor, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, said: "Recognizing the crucial importance of e-commerce, the Bahrain Ministry of Commerce has been devoted to using the most modern Internet technology in e-commerce services for the past two years, in order to provide different services using tools for trade registration, company affairs, agencies and others. The Ministry of Commerce's portal has now been upgraded and enhanced to be a vehicle for numerous electronic transactions, in addition to being a valuable source of information. The user friendly appearance of the portal has also facilitated users to access it easily to cater to their needs."

"The advent of e-commerce however raises significant questions of secure and speedy electronic transfer of documents worldwide, which must be addressed appropriately in order to generate trust and reliability in e-business. Today we are entering an important phase of integration between the world of information technology and that of commerce through this cooperation with bolero.net, a service that has revolutionized the world of e-commerce and made it more secure and simple. We have coordinated with other specialized sectors and ministries in the Kingdom, mainly the Ministry of Finance," His Excellency added. "The Ministry of Commerce has drawn up plans to leverage the benefits of bolero.net to build a world-class e-commerce model involving different sectors as well as some of Bahrain's leading companies."

"The Kingdom of Bahrain has been making impressive strides in ushering in the e-commerce revolution, and bolero.net is proud to collaborate with the Ministry of Commerce to offer our advanced solutions to support and sustain the moves," said Steve van den Heever, Chief Operating Officer, Bolero MENA. "The momentum provided by the Government through earlier initiatives will gather steam as bolero.net moves in to break down the obstacles that were preventing the full-scale adoption of e-commerce, in addition to laying to rest doubts about security of online exchange of confidential documents. In order to provide continued support and assistance to the Bahrain-based trade and commerce sector, Bolero MENA will soon set up a regional office in Bahrain."

"Bolero.net has dramatically changed the face of online document exchange by devising a foolproof system, underpinned by a unique legal structure," he added. "It is powered and part-owned by SWIFT, the global payment message processing body, that sets the industry standards. It has become the most efficient tool for online business transactions, effectively overcoming all the handicaps seen in a paper-based system. Bolero.net makes it possible to carry out an entire transaction online, from
exchanging contractual documents and title of ownership to the agreement on payment and delivery details, cutting down administration and operations costs."

"This cooperation between Bahrain's Ministry of Commerce and bolero.net will have far-reaching consequences, as it will give Bahrain a lead over other countries in the region in the critical area of e-commerce," said van den Heever. "The Middle East region, with just over 10 per cent of businesses having joined the e-commerce revolution, is geared for a rapid transformation. Trends indicate that the inter-region trade is set to boom while at the same time the region will be contributing significantly to the global trade. In such a scenario, the Kingdom of Bahrain has made the right move and bolero.net is proud to be associated with this development and will continue to aid the authorities in fine-tuning all aspects connected with the integration of bolero.net with their existing systems."

Bolero MENA was launched in May 2002 to boost electronic trade in 21 countries in the region, by offering the highly secure and respected bolero.net system from Bolero International, the global company that provides a secure electronic document transfer for global trade. Bolero MENA is based at the Dubai Internet City with four regional offices in Cairo, Amman and Istanbul. Bolero International Ltd was set up in 1998 to provide a secure, electronic document transfer system to automate, simplify and streamline the information flow associated with global trade. Over the past two years, over 500 companies and industry organizations around the world have worked together to review the functional and legal capabilities of the Bolero service. Bolero.net's members include four of Japan's largest trading houses, Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsui and Nissho Iwai along with the German mail order company Otto Versand, Japanese cargo operator "K" Lines and Cargill. (Keralamonitor.com)

Puntland administration lifts ban on BBC reporters

NAIROBI, 29 January (IRIN) - The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have lifted the ban on two BBC reporters, according to a senior official in the region's commercial capital, Bosaso.

Abdishakur Mire Adan, the Puntland deputy information minister, told IRIN that the region's internal affairs minister, Ahmad Abdi Habsade, had made the announcement in a letter addressed to the BBC. The reporters, Ahmad Muhammad Kismayo and Muhammad Khalif Gir, were banned from reporting from the region last year after being accused by the authorities of "not being objective in their reporting of events in the region".

"These two gentlemen have been banned, because they have not been and are not objective in their reporting of events in the region," a Puntland official told IRIN at the time. Isma'il Warsame, the chief of cabinet of the region's leader, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad, told IRIN that he hoped the two reporters "will in future report events objectively and without bias". Puntland was still waiting for the BBC to send officially accredited reporters to the region, he added. Attempts by IRIN to contact the two reporters were unsuccessful.

US writes off Ethiopian debt

ADDIS ABABA, 29 January (IRIN) - The US has written off almost US $30 million in debt for drought-stricken Ethiopia, which is strapped with a massive US $6 billion debt burden.US ambassador Aurelia Brazeal signed the deal which wipes out all the debt owed to the US up to March 2004, including arrears and servicing. The deal comes after Nestle - the world's largest coffee company - agreed to forgo US $6 million it said it was owed by Ethiopia. "Along with several other donor countries, the US government is providing 100 percent debt forgiveness," a US embassy statement said.

"The United States is pleased to reach this agreement and looks forward to continued positive relations with the Government of Ethiopia in this, the 100th year of Ethiopian-American relations." The money saved from the debt write-off is to be channelled towards the country's newly launched Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Ethiopia also faces huge compensation packages by companies around the world after dozens of foreign companies were nationalised under the former Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Hailemariam. Nestle was one of the companies claiming compensation, but performed a U-turn after criticism over the payment whilst the country faced a severe drought. Meanwhile, Ethiopia has been awarded US $27 million to fight tuberculosis from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, whose main financial backer is computer billionaire Bill Gates.

"TB is a killer unless you get the right treatment at the right time," Dr Omar Ahmed Omar from the Ethiopian health ministry told IRIN. He said the money received from the Fund was vital to help tackle the crisis. Dr Omar pointed out that currently, two thirds of those who contract the disease die within two years. He blamed the prevalence of the disease on widespread poverty in Ethiopia.