CEOAFRICA.com gathered that both Ethiopia and Russia are set to promote agricultural cooperation.

Ethiopia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dewano Kedir, met with a Russian delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Mr. Ilia Shestakov.

During the meeting, Mr. Shestakov, who also met with the Minister of Agriculture, Tefera Deribew explained details of the planned agro-machinery park to be built in Ethiopia by the Russian Government.

According to him, this would be helpful in providing consultancy and supplies of machinery for the support farmer’s unions which are composed of small-farm holders. The Deputy Minister added that the project will be of great importance overall in modernizing agriculture, improving productivity, transferring technology, delivering agricultural equipment and training agricultural specialists. State Minister Dewano explained that Ethiopia’s agricultural policy focuses on areas where cooperation with Russia is most needed.

The State Minister noted that this cooperation can help Ethiopia’s efforts to ensure food security as well as increase exports of agricultural products and in particular possibility of exporting horticultural products to Russia. In addition to agricultural cooperation and trade, the State Minister stressed that Russia investors could take advantage of Ethiopia’s investment incentives, its wide market and its fast-developing infrastructure.

The State Minister underlined the historic and cordial relationship between the two countries, and was pleased to be able to tell the Russian delegation that a site in Addis Ababa was now ready to erect a monument to Alexander Pushkin, a great Russian author and poet, who was believed to have been of Ethiopian descent and he is a symbol of the close and long standing relationship between the two countries.