ADDIS ABABA, Dec 30 (NNN-ENA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held talks here Tuesday with a delegation led by Egyptian Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif during which they expressed their commitment to further strengthen existing economic ties between the two countries.

Meles said Ethiopia and Egypt should work together in efforts to ensure benefits to the peoples of the two countries and expressed Ethiopia’s readiness to co-operate with Egypt in various sectors.

The prime minister said the participation of Egyptian investors in various sectors in Ethiopia was a start towards strengthening economic ties between the two countries.

Dr. Nazif said Egypt withsed to work with Ethiopia in various sectors and added that the private sector significantly contributed towards the efforts to strengthen relations between Ethiopia and Egypt.

The two countries had identified various areas of co-operation during the recent visit of a high-level Egyptian delegation to Ethiopia, he added. Some of the areas of co-operation identified were investment, agriculture and construction.

Dr. Nazif also said the National Bank of Egypt would initially develop 20,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia’s Afar regional state while some Egyptian drug manufacturing companies were undertaking preparations to invest in Ethiopia and others had shown interest to do so.

Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan are expected to reach an agreement soon on the installation of electricity transmission cables spanning the three countries in the near future, he said.