ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Tuesday said the relations between Ethiopia and India should be bolstered in the economic sector as it has been in the political one.

    The statement came in the talks with visiting Indian State Minister for Commerce Jairam Ramesh on issues of economic cooperation.

    Meles said that though the economic relations between the two countries have been growing in recent years, the trade balance has been much in favor of India.

    Meles assured Ramesh and the Indian business delegation that the Ethiopian government would keep things conducive for greater foreign direct investment from India.

    Currently, more than 3.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of Indian investments have been established in Ethiopia in the areas, among others, of floriculture, infrastructure, agriculture and mining, according to the Ethiopian prime minister.

    This figure, Meles said, makes India the second largest investor in Ethiopia to date. The Indian investment has created sizable job opportunities for citizens, he added.

    Meles said Ethiopia has taken the lion's share of India's development aid in the form of loans. As a case in point, Meles mentioned the 640 million dollars provided in loans to Ethiopia byan Indian state-owned bank.

    Meanwhile, Meles also said a planned railway project was going to be financed by an Indian state-owned bank.

    After the talks, Ramesh told journalists that it was forecast that the cooperation between Ethiopia and India would be taken to an unprecedented height in the coming five or six years.

    He said there have been conducive policy environment in Ethiopia and an increased number of Indian businesspeople would come to invest.

    India was planning to widely engage in Ethiopia in IT, leather, textiles, energy as well as tea farm sectors.