ETHIOPIA- Russian Government has expressed interest in cooperating with Ethiopia on a wider variety of sectors including trade and energy.

According to sources, the above mentioned position was disclosed during the Intergovernmental Ethio-Russian Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific, Technical and Trade Cooperation technical experts review meeting.

Speaking during the event, Sahele Tamiru, a Senior Energy Analyst at the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy said:

"Our forthcoming discussions are intended to explore new ideas of cooperation,"

He further said that the major areas of cooperation covered in these negotiations span a wide variety of interests including trade, agriculture, energy, mineral, transport and education, among others.

"We are here to take stock of the progress made so far in their implementation and find means of speeding up the process," Sahle added.

On his own part, director of Asian and African Directorate in the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Nailya Che rnikova, said the Russian government will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with its Ethiopian counterpart.

Also, there are representatives of Russian companies which have strong interest to make business in Ethiopia.