ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia said on Thursday that it will seek to strengthen economic and investment relations with Russia to cut its trade deficit with Moscow.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Meles Alem said the current trade relations between the two "historically connected countries" stood in favor of Russia.

Ethiopian export to Russia last year totalled about 24.8 million U.S. dollars; its import from Russia, 52.4 million dollars, according to figures from the ministry.

Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Workneh Gebeyehu, during a recent meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Russia's capital Moscow, had also asserted the need to strengthen long-standing cooperation between Ethiopia and Russia.

Gebeyehu invited Russian companies to invest in the east African country, with due emphasis given to Ethiopia's mining and energy sectors.

The two countries are preparing to commemorate 120 years of diplomatic relations with a wide array of events.