The Ethiopian government said on Sunday that two days of talks in Addis Ababa between Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had been held in a spirit ``that characterises the historical bond of friendship'' between the two nations.

A joint statement after Bashir's departure on Friday said he and Meles had agreed to forge closer ties ``after passing through a period of difficulty in their diplomatic relationship.''

President Mubarak narrowly escaped assassination when terrorists attacked his motorcade shortly after he had landed at Addis Ababa airport for the 1995 summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

Egypt and the OAU accused Sudan of complicity in the attack, and Ethiopia said Sudan was trying to destabilise the region.

At their meetings this week, Bashir and Meles agreed to reactivate an Ethiopian-Sudanese joint commission of ministers, and to convene a meeting next February.

The two leaders also discussed the situation in the Horn of Africa and the civil war in the Sudan.

Ethiopia had exported 322.3 tonnes in the 1998/99 year worth $780,500 compared to 187.2 tonnes of tea in 1997/98 which netted $388,200.

Derese Kassa, General Manager of Tea Enterprise said production in 2000 should reach 4,300 tonnes with the development of two more state-owned estates.

``We know that our highland grown tea is of the highest quality and we intend to expand our sales outlet so as to earn more hard currency,'' he said, estimating earnings at $4 million next year.

Taye Mekonnen, Manager of Wush Wush Tea Plantation said a new $5 million tea processing plant had been erected and this, together with another new estate would help push production further in 2000/2001.

Zwedu Getachew, president of Dawn of Hope, said the group would stop educating the public about the disease ``unless journalists stop using unfriendly words.''

``Members will longer be able to serve the society if the media continue to use sensational words that contribute to their stigmatisation,'' he said.

Zwedu, who is HIV-positive, said words such as ``plague,'' ``scourge'' and ``victim'' instilled fear in the public and ostracised people living with HIV and AIDS.

``If (the media) fail to heed our words, carriers will be forced to live in secrecy, which could accelerate the spread of the disease,'' he said.

A recent World Bank report estimated that 2.5 million Ethiopians were infected with the HIV virus, 140,000 of them children.