<p class="title">The first passenger flight between Ethiopia and Eritrea since the start of a 20-year conflict will take place a week from Tuesday, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The African aviation giant said it would initially operate daily flights but planned "very quickly" to operate multiple flights a day as well as cargo flights.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"With the opening of a new chapter of peace and friendship between the two sisterly countries, we look forward to starting flights to Asmara with the B787," said chief executive officer Tewolde GebreMariam.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The resumption of air links will play a critical role in boosting the overall political, economic, trade and people-to-people ties between the two sisterly countries."</p>.<p class="bodytext">After decades of acrimony that followed a 1998-2000 border war that killed 80,000 people, Ethiopia and Eritrea on Monday declared the official end of the conflict in a dizzying rapprochement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed paid a historic visit this week to his country's bitter foe in Eritrea, President Isaias Afwerki, after taking the shock decision last month to finally abide by a United Nations ruling demarcating the border between their nations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The two nations have restored telephone communications for the first time in two decades and pledged to re-open embassies, while landlocked Ethiopia is to be allowed to use Eritrea's ports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The opening of ties could be an economic boon to the two nations, both poor but on very different paths.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ethiopia, with a population of 100 million, is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to be Africa's fastest-growing economy in 2018 with a growth of 8.5 percent. However, it is struggling with mounting debt and foreign exchange shortages.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Abiy has announced a slew of reforms since his ascension to power, including the partial liberalisation of the economy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Eritrea is one of the world's most isolated countries, where a policy of indefinite forced military conscription has seen hundreds of thousands flee the country to Europe.</p>
<p class="title">The first passenger flight between Ethiopia and Eritrea since the start of a 20-year conflict will take place a week from Tuesday, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The African aviation giant said it would initially operate daily flights but planned "very quickly" to operate multiple flights a day as well as cargo flights.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"With the opening of a new chapter of peace and friendship between the two sisterly countries, we look forward to starting flights to Asmara with the B787," said chief executive officer Tewolde GebreMariam.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The resumption of air links will play a critical role in boosting the overall political, economic, trade and people-to-people ties between the two sisterly countries."</p>.<p class="bodytext">After decades of acrimony that followed a 1998-2000 border war that killed 80,000 people, Ethiopia and Eritrea on Monday declared the official end of the conflict in a dizzying rapprochement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed paid a historic visit this week to his country's bitter foe in Eritrea, President Isaias Afwerki, after taking the shock decision last month to finally abide by a United Nations ruling demarcating the border between their nations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The two nations have restored telephone communications for the first time in two decades and pledged to re-open embassies, while landlocked Ethiopia is to be allowed to use Eritrea's ports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The opening of ties could be an economic boon to the two nations, both poor but on very different paths.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ethiopia, with a population of 100 million, is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to be Africa's fastest-growing economy in 2018 with a growth of 8.5 percent. However, it is struggling with mounting debt and foreign exchange shortages.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Abiy has announced a slew of reforms since his ascension to power, including the partial liberalisation of the economy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Eritrea is one of the world's most isolated countries, where a policy of indefinite forced military conscription has seen hundreds of thousands flee the country to Europe.</p>