During his visit the Hon. Minister announced the establishment of the Sudan Leather City and the Leather Council to be officially declared in the next two weeks.

H.E. Eng. Abdala Hamad, Minister for Industry and Investment and his Team while making courtesy visit to COMESA/LLPI on April 12, 2016 explained  the preparatory work to establish the Leather Council and the Leather City have been finalized; and that these two major aspects are at its finalization stage. Plans are, therefore, underway to be launched and implemented. It is anticipated that the establishment of the Leather Council will institutionalize the leather sector and become the stimulus of its leather development.

Zimbabwean Team of Experts Visited COMESA/LLPI on 6 April 2016.

The Team was welcomed by Mr. Zewdu Kebede, Programs Coordinator of COMESA/LLPI at the LLPI Board Room.

During their visit, brief discussion meeting was made; and they were presented about LLPI's activities on Member States. Besides, the Team explained the purpose of their visit to COMESA/LLPI in particular and Ethiopia in general.

COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Experts Team led by the Institute’s Executive Director, Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, and composed of Mr. Nicholas Mudungwe, Cluster Expert and Regional Strategy coordinator, and Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam, Leather Value Chain Expert and Personal Assistant to the Executive Director conducted a three days mission to Rwanda. The aim of the mission was to hold a planning meeting with, MINICOM and other public institutions involved in the development of the leather sector in Rwanda, in the framework of the implementation of the Rwanda Leather Value Chain Strategy. The Expert Team met and discussed with the Honorable Minister Mr. Francois Kanimba, Minister of Trade and Industry. The meetings with MINICOM Experts and other public and private institutions representatives was held from 15th to 16thFebruary, 2016 at the MINICOM Meeting hall. The COMESA-LLPI Expert Team made presentations on:

The COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute’s team composed of the Institute’s Executive Director, Prof. Mwinyihija Mwinyikione, and the Leather Value Chain Expert and Personal Assistant to the Executive Director, Prof. Mekonnen Hailemariam, attended the 2nd Leather Technology Seminar held during the Indian International Leather Fair 2016 from February 1 to 3 at Chennai, India.

The COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute’s Delegation led by the Institute’s Executive Director, Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija visited the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and leather testing laboratory situated in Ranipet, a town about 120 km from Chennai, India, on February 4, 2016.  

The town has a large concentration of tanneries processing hides and skins from raw to finish. CETP was established in 1995, to control pollution to the environment, and was constantly upgraded to the level of computerized operations management system with a handling capacity of 4500cum/day of effluent that makes it one of the largest effluent treatment plants in India.

The Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of Kenya, Honorable Minister Mr. Aden Mohamed paid a courtesy visit to COMESA/LLPI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 3rd February 2016. Honorable Minister was accompanied by two delegates; Mr. Ndirangu from the High Commission of the Republic of Kenya in Ethiopia and Mr. John Mwendwa, Chief of Staff, Ministry of Industry, Investment & Trade, Republic of Kenya.
The objective was to visit the Regional Leather Institute and to exchange views on its mandate and provision of service to Member States in General and Kenya in particular.

In recognition of “The World Interfaith Harmony Week”, COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA/LLPI) organized a meeting on February 3, 2016 in which its entire staff of various faiths took part. During the meeting, presentations were made on the purpose of the World Interfaith Harmony Week and on the strong Ethiopian tradition of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between peoples of different faiths. This was followed by a discussion in which participants expressed their strong support for organizing such event that will help to uphold and further strengthen the harmony that existed between Ethiopians of followers of different faiths.

COMESA – Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA/LLPI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (the Hub), at COMESA/LLPI’s Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 2nd February 2016.

In pursuance to regional integration, the two institutions (the Hub and COMESA/LLPI) will streamline their common objectives towards intra and inter trade within East Africa, Africa and the global arena for the benefit of creating wealth employment, gender parity and sustainable development.

Prof. Dr⁴. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, Executive Director of COMESA/LLPI, attained 850 reads from his research papers in 2015. Essentially, the meaning of this is that the visibility of COMESA/LLPI is equally enhanced.
Prof. Mwinyihija attained this success on the three articles and conference papers listed below:

• Article: Ecological Risk Assessment of the Kenyan Tanning Industry
• Conference Paper: Morphological Characteristics of Hides and Skins as Affected by Various Environmental Parameters During Pre And Post Slaughter Treatment.
• Article: Assessment of Pulverized Fly Ash (PFA) as an Ameliorant of Lead Contaminated Soils.

His contribution in research and development activities in Africa and the whole world has paramount importance.
COMESA/LLPI congratulates him on his success, and wishes him all the best in his future endeavor.

Zambia Leather Value Chain Strategy, which was formulated by COMESA/LLPI in collaboration with Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry of Zambia, was Validated, Launched and Unpacked during 7th - 10th December 2015 in Lusaka, Zambia.

The Leather Value Chain Strategy of Zambia was presented and discussed at the workshop held at the Anina’s Lodge, Chilanga, outskirt of Lusaka, on 7th and 8th December 2015. The Strategy Launch and Unpacking program took place on 9th and 10th December 2015, at the Government Complex Hall, Lusaka.