Message from Jimmy Smith:

It is traditional to mark the arrival of a new year on 1 January. This year, I am pleased to recognize ILRI’s strong connections with Ethiopia and to wish you all Melkam Addis Amet!

11 September (Meskerem 1 in the Ethiopian calendar) marks the start of the new year 2006 in Ethiopia.

This new year is an important milestone for us. Forty years ago, in Ethiopian calendar 1966 (1974 Gregorian calendar), the Government of Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA).

Twenty years later, ILCA merged with the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) to form ILRI – the International Livestock Research Institute.

We will mark this anniversary later next year with an event, most probably in Addis Ababa, documenting the results of 40 years livestock research.

Let me wish all ILRI staff and their families, most especially those in Ethiopia: Melkam Addis Amet!

Jimmy Smith