Ethiopian, Chinese Foreign Policy Think Tanks Eye Collaboration

ADDIS ABABA – Officials of Ethiopia’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) and the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) vowed to create a strong partnership to collaborate on research and other fields.

The officials of the two think tanks said this during their virtual meeting facilitated by Ethiopian ambassador to China Ambassador, Teshome Toga, on Tuesday.

The IFA and CPIFA seek to increase cooperation bilateral projects including joint research initiatives, experience, and publication sharings as well as holding dialogues.

Ethiopia and China celebrated their 50 years of diplomatic relations last year, and the two increased their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership level in 2017.

Vice president of the CPIFA, Ambassador Li Jie said Beijing is keen to further develop its bilateral relations and play a constructive role in Ethiopia’s peace and stability.

Infrastructure building, investment, and financing projects are among the sectors that China is heavily involved in Ethiopia as part of its cooperation with Africa under the Belt and Road initiative. Jie said both CPIFA and IFA, as research institutes, can expand these relationships to various fields.

Established in 1996, the Addis Ababa-based autonomous foreign policy and security think tank is making new partnerships after rebranding itself as the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) in October 2022.

With CPIFA, IFA’s executive director Desalegn Ambaw (Ph.D.) the institute wishes to work on common projects, experience, and publication sharing.

The Institute is ready and committed to bringing this partnership to fruition, Desalegn added.

In the end, the two sides agreed to hold additional discussions and develop a road map that leads to a strengthened relationship based on MoU signed between the two institutes, according to IFA.