ADDIS ABABA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines (ET) will resume flights to Eritrea's capital Asmara on July 17, ET announced on Tuesday.

In a press statement, ET said the flights to Asmara, the first in 20 years, will be conducted with the air carrier's most advanced aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Tewolde Gebremariam said the resumption of air links with Asmara will avail best connectivity options to the vast Eritrean diaspora community across the world and boost the flow of investment, trade and tourism into Eritrea.

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, Gebremariam said.

The announcement is part of a broad agreement signed on Monday by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki to resume economic, political and diplomatic ties after two decades of mutual hostility.

In June, Ethiopia received a delegation led by Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Salah, the first high-level Eritrean delegation to visit Ethiopia in 20 years.

The Eritrean delegation came to Ethiopia after Afwerki declared that his country would send a team to Ethiopia to assess a recent Ethiopia peace offer.

On June 5, the Executive Committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), passed a decision expressing Ethiopia's commitment to an unconditional implementation of the Algiers peace agreement with Eritrea.

That peace agreement ended a two-year border war, but a tense armed stand-off continued, with the two countries engaging in skirmishes occasionally. Enditem

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