ADDIS ABABA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian House of People's Representatives on Thursday approved the draft bill prepared to merge the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries.

The Ethiopian parliament's lower house, during its session on Thursday, approved the merging of the two ministries with a majority vote approval.

Ethiopia's new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, while briefing members of the lower house on Thursday, stressed the need to collaborate efforts so as to acquire the expected outcome from the sectors following the merging of the two ministries.

According to Ahmed, despite having one of the largest livestock population, the East African country has not been able to benefit from the sector as expected.

The premier further stressed that merging the two ministries would help expedite the livestock and fisheries sector as well as the agriculture and natural resources sector.