Ethiopia - UAE Relationships

UAE-Ethiopian relations:

The visit of His Excellency Seyoum Mesfin, the then Ethiopian Foreign Minister to the United Arab Emirates on March 22-24, 2004, represented the starting point for contemporary relations between the two countries.

During the visit, ways of developing political relations, raising the level of diplomatic representation between the two countries to the level of ambassadors and opening an Ethiopian consulate in Dubai were discussed.

An understanding was also reached to establish relations between the two countries in the commercial, investment and tourism fields and in the field of technical cooperation and to create appropriate conditions to attract investors from both sides. Since then, a number of high-level government officials in the two countries have exchanged visits, the most important of are:

The official visit made in May 2009 by His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Republic of Ethiopia as part of His Highness's African tour. During the visit, His Highness met with the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and senior officials of the Ethiopian government with a view to strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as requesting the support of the Republic of Ethiopia to the United Arab Emirates to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

The opening of the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Addis Ababa in July 2010 was the most important shift in the development of relations between the two countries, as the opening of an embassy for the UAE in the Republic of Ethiopia contributed to strengthening aspects of cooperation between the two countries in all political, commercial and investment fields, as well as exchange of official visits from leaderships and high officials of the two countries. The most important of them are : -

• The visit of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Republic of Ethiopia, March 2013

• His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, paid an official visit to the Republic of Ethiopia on 20 and 21 March 2013, accompanied by a high-level delegation that included senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representatives from Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Etihad Airways and Dubai World Ports . During the visit, a memorandum of understanding was signed to establish a "joint ministerial committee for cooperation" in the political, economic, commercial, agricultural, industrial, technological, educational, cultural, judicial, health, environmental and security fields, in addition to fields like labor, manpower exchange, transport and communications. And any other field concerning the interests of the two countries. During the visit, a memorandum of understanding was signed to open a "representative office for the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry" in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, as a gate-way for the UAE to the African continent.

• Visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister to the United Arab Emirates, January 2014: At the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, paid an official visit to the United Arab Emirates during the period 19-21 January 2014 , accompanied by a high-ranking delegation that included a number of ministers and senior officials of the Ethiopian government. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia held high-level discussions with the First Lieutenant General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, where the meeting stressed the importance of supporting and developing bilateral relations to serve the common interests of the two countries, and to support and develop the existing bilateral relations between the two countries, which include various political, economic and social fields.
• A meeting was also held between His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the Ethiopian PM which focused on expanding the horizons of cooperation between the two countries, especially in the fields of investment in sectors like Industry, agriculture, tourism, mining, energy, and infrastructure.

• The visit of H.E Engineer / Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy to the Republic of Ethiopia, March 2014: His Excellency Engineer Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates, paid an official visit to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia during the period17-19 March 2014, accompanied by commercial and investment delegation, which included representatives from a number of prominent Emirati companies, to discuss opportunities and possibilities for developing Economic cooperation between the two countries.

• The visit of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Republic of Ethiopia, March 2018: His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, paid an official visit to the Republic of Ethiopia on 7 March 2018, accompanied by a high-level delegation to attend the meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee for Cooperation between the two countries. During the visit, a memorandum of understanding was signed for political consultations.

• The visit of H.E the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to the United Arab Emirates May 2018: H.E Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, paid an official visit to the United Arab Emirates in May 2018, accompanied by a high-level delegation that included a number of ministers and senior officials of the Ethiopian government, in his first Gulf tour that included the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after one month from assuming powering in Ethiopia.

• The Visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, to the Republic of Ethiopia June 2018: His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, made his first visit to the Republic of Ethiopia on June 15, 2018, accompanied by a high-level delegation. The visit constituted a major qualitative shift in the relationship between the two friendly countries, and achieved important results, including the signing of a number of bilateral agreements in several sectors. His Highness announced during the visit to provide UAE support to Ethiopia with a value of 3 billion dollars, of which 2 billion as direct investments, and one billion as a deposit in the National Bank of Ethiopia to address the deficit in foreign currency.

• The visit of H.E the Ethiopian Prime Minister to the United Arab Emirates, July 2018: The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, H.E Dr. Abiy Ahmed visited the United Arab Emirates in July 2018, to participate in the UAE-Ethiopia-Eritrea tripartite summit, during which the Ethiopian and Eritrean presidents were awarded the "Medal of Zayed" in appreciation of their efforts to end the conflict and state of war between their two countries, which lasted for more than 20 years, and open horizons of cooperation between them, and achieving peace in the Horn of Africa.

• The visit of H.E the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs to the United Arab Emirates, December 2018: His Excellency the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs paid an official visit to the United Arab Emirates in December 2018, where the initials of the employment and labor force exchange agreement were signed between the two countries.

• Visit of H.E the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, to the United Arab Emirates, March 2019: The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, H.E Dr. Abiy Ahmed visited the United Arab Emirates in March 2019 to follow the development of the growing relations between the two friendly countries. He also attended part of the activities of the International Special Games Championship hosted by Abu Dhabi.

The opening of the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the Republic of Ethiopia in July 2010 had the greatest impact on the development and strengthening of economic relations between the two countries, as the fields of trade and investment witnessed steady growth from through years.

Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry opened its international representative office in Addis Ababa in May 2013, to serve as a gateway for the United Arab Emirates to the African continent.

When the embassy of the United Arab Emirates was opened in Addis Ababa in July 2010, the total trade exchange between the two countries was 551,856,148 dollars, while the total trade exchange between the two countries in 2018 was 759,781,572 dollars. Likewise, the number of licensed UAE investment projects in Ethiopia in 2010 were only 30, rising to 113 in 2019, 50 of them are operating, while 53 projects are under different stages of preparation. During the year 2019 alone, the embassy carried out many activities to promote investment and enhance economic relations between the two countries, including:

• UAE-Ethiopian economic forum chaired by the Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Economy His Excellency Abdullah Al Saleh and his accompanying delegation.

• An economic forum to promote economic relations between the country and Africa in general, and Ethiopia in particular. And to reflect the role of UAE women in the world of finance and business.

• The economic section at the embassy works closely with the UAE investors in Ethiopia to provide them with the necessary support. That includes introducing them to the investment policy, laws, investment rules and regulations in Ethiopia. Also providing them with information and advice, priority investment opportunities, and assisting them in establishing and managing projects.

• In January 2019, the embassy, in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and the regional office of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Addis Ababa, established a business advisory committee aimed at providing the necessary support to UAE investors in Ethiopia, and helping them to solve the problems facing them, with relevant government agencies at different levels, including the Ethiopian Investment Agency.

In implementation of the strategy of the United Arab Emirates, which seeks to strengthen its relationship with different countries of the world, and in support of distinguished relations with the Republic of Ethiopia, H.E Hussein bin Ibrahim Al Hamadi, UAE Minister of Education visited Addis Ababa, and met with H.E the Minister of Education of Ethiopia to identify the needs of the Ethiopian side in the field of Education.

Accordingly H.E the UAE Minister of Education issued a decision to form a committee from the Ministry and the governmental higher education institutions in the UAE , to work on accepting 100 of distinguished Ethiopians students, in UAE high Education institutions annually, based on the specializations that the Ethiopian side needs.

Accordingly, a team of specialists from the Ministry of Education and higher education institutions in UAE came to the Republic of Ethiopia in April 2019, where the candidate students were interviewed and sat for admission tests.

If they pass the admission tests for higher education institutions in the UAE, then they will be accepted in the second semester of this year 2019.