An Ethio-Russia Investment Forum has been held in Moscow this week attended by Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Water and Energy as well as high-level officials of the Ethiopian Railway Corporation and the Ethiopian Electric Corporation and representatives of more than 60 governmental and private businesses engaged in leather and hides, horticulture, floriculture and grain and the oilseed trade.

During the discussions representatives of more than 30 Russian businesses involved in investment in Ethiopia participated. The occasion helped to demonstrate Ethiopia's sound macro economic policies and underline the investment opportunities available in mining, electromechanical works, railway development, hydropower energy, construction, the production of large scale machinery and agro-processing.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Trdros noted that the Forum would help to further boost the historic ties between the two countries. Dr. Micahel Margelov, the President's envoy for Africa Cooperation, said Ethiopia was the closest African country to Russia in terms of culture, social and political relations, with links dating back to the time of the great poet, Alexander Pushkin.

While in Moscow, Dr. Tedros held talks with Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, on bilateral relations. The discussions focused largely on ways to increase the volume of trade between the two countries including the importance of signing agreements to facilitate trade and on the ratification of previous agreements by Moscow.

Other areas covered included scholarship opportunities in Russia to facilitate technology transfers to improve agricultural productivity and cooperation between Russia and Ethiopia in multilateral forums including the G-8.