ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn wants mobile money to take off in the country. In an effort to boost cooperation with neighboring countries, the prime minister met with Kenya's top telecom operator Safaricom to discuss their M-Pesa mobile money service. During his talks with senior management, the government said in a press statement, they talked about the potential of pushing the M-Pesa money transfer service into Ethiopia with Safaricom's service. Desalegn said Ethiopia “is looking to countries such as Kenya, Brazil and Pakistan as it seeks to develop its mobile telephony market and reap the benefits of mobile technology." With an estimated population of 91 million people, Ethiopia is Africa's second largest nation and many analysts believe it will the next frontier for mobile phone-led financial deepening. The PM said he would like to learn and see greater partnerships between Safaricom and Ethiopia. Ethiopia wants to introduce and bolster its telecom mobile banking sector with the country's banks in order to make doing business and transferring money easier.