Ethiopia said Wednesday it has garnered over 36 million U.S. dollars from the export of various agricultural produces to neighboring Somalia in the past eight months since July last year.

Amare Gebremariam, senior official with the Ethiopian Customs Authority, told journalists that the stated sum of revenue is collected from the export of live animals, animal products and khat.

Amare said over 24,000 live animals, 589,000 liters of milk and over 11 million kg of khat have been exported to Somalia via the eastern border town of Jijiga.

The revenue secured in the stated period has shown an increase of over 1.38 million dollars from the same period of the previous fiscal year (July 2004-June 2005), he said.

He attributed the cross-border trade increase to the peaceful situation in Somaliland, an unrecognized de facto state located in northwest Somalia.

In May 1991, Somaliland people declared an independent Republic of Somaliland that now includes six of the eighteen administrative regions of Somalia, roughly the region between Ethiopia, Djibouti, Gulf of Aden and Somalia.

Source: Xinhua