Ethiopia, India Sign Two Coop Agreements, Plans to Further Bolster Ties
ADDIS ABABA – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen has held a discussion with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on ways of deepening strategic partnership between the two countries.
The last high level talks at the level of Foreign Ministers of the two countries took place during the Joint Commission meeting in New Delhi in May 2018.
Like the previous one, Friday’s discussion was held in India’s capital and in the spirit of strong friendship, said officials close to Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa.
It has covered the entire spectrum of bilateral relations including political, economic, social and people to people contacts, the embassy said, adding the two FMs exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues.
The two Foreign Ministers expressed their satisfaction with current bilateral relations and the progress achieved in recent years especially in the economic and commercial sectors as well as human resources development.
The officials, however, believe that there is a big room that needs “enhanced cooperation in all areas of mutual interest”, according to the embassy. Preparations being made for the forthcoming India-Africa summit was also a subject of Friday’s disucussion.
Demeke called his discussion with Jaishankar “fruitful” that could scale up bilateral relations to a strategic partnership and cooperation in multilateral forums.
After the end meeting, the two Foreign ministers presided over the signing of two agreements that will further deepen the overall ties between India and Ethiopia.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on Mutual Visa Exemption for holders of Diplomatic Passports while the other one enables two of their education institutions to collaborate on the technology sector.
The signing institutions are India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of Central Leather Research Institute and Wollo University’s Kombolcha Institute of Technology.
Demeke’s visit to India was aimed at building up on the consensus reached during a phone conversation between the leaders of the two nations on May 7, 2020.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, reiterated the strong solidarity between our two friendly countries especially during this difficult COVID-19 pandemic.
