Transcript of Special Briefing by MEA on Prime Minister’s Visit to Ethiopia (December 17, 2025)

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. I warmly welcome all of you to this special press briefing by Secretary (ER), Shri Sudhakar Dalela, on the ongoing bilateral visit of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi to Ethiopia.

As you all know, for us, Ethiopia is a very important partner in the Global South and a lot on this visit has been focused as to how we can strengthen this partnership further, not just for ourselves, but also for the larger community in the Global South as well.

We are also joined by our Ambassador to Ethiopia, Shri Anil Rai and Joint Secretary (E&SA) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Janesh Kain.

With that, I invite Secretary (ER) for his initial remarks, after which we can take some questions from the floor. Sir, the mic is yours.

Shri Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary (ER): Thank you very much, Randhir and Good Morning everyone.

As you are aware, Prime Minister Modi is on his first bilateral visit to Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia at the invitation of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali. Prime Minister arrived in Addis Ababa yesterday evening and was received very warmly at the airport by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy.

Prime Minister Abiy drove Prime Minister Modi directly to National Science Museum and Friendship Park in the city. Later, Prime Minister was accorded ceremonial welcome at the National Palace where he inspected the Guard of Honor.

Subsequently, the two leaders met in one-to-one format followed by delegation-level talks and banquet hosted by Prime Minister Abiy. The two leaders had productive and wide-ranging discussions where they reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral partnership. Both sides agreed to further expand cooperation in areas including trade and investment, agriculture, renewable energy, health, education, skill development, defense, mining, Artificial Intelligence, and digital public infrastructure.

In the context of food security and health security, Prime Minister Modi expressed and conveyed India's readiness to share our own development experience in the area of agri-technology, natural farming, digital health, and how we are leveraging technology for better health services to our people, traditional medicine, and he said that India would be happy to work with Ethiopia in these areas in the coming months.

Prime Minister thanked Prime Minister Abiy for Ethiopia's strong support in our common fight against terrorism in all its manifestations. The two leaders witnessed the exchange of several MOUs in diverse areas such as customs cooperation, training for peacekeeping missions, establishment of a data center at the Ethiopian Foreign Office.

During their meeting, the two leaders decided to elevate the bilateral partnership to a strategic partnership, marking a whole new chapter in our bilateral engagement with Ethiopia. This elevation further solidifies our collective commitment to work even more closely in areas of mutual interests.

At the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment toward bilateral development cooperation. For decades, as you know, Indian teachers have been significantly contributing to Ethiopia's education sector. In this vein, it was agreed to further deepen cooperation in the field of education, skilling, and capacity building.

India would be happy to organize special short-term courses in the field of Artificial Intelligence under the ITEC program for Ethiopia. Prime Minister Modi also announced doubling of the number of ICCR scholarships offered annually to Ethiopian students to study in India.

Similarly, in the field of healthcare, it was conveyed that India was ready to partner with Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in augmenting its capacity through supply of equipment, and provisioning of training programs, especially in the areas of maternal and neonatal health, emergency medicine, and trauma care.

During his interaction with Prime Minister Dr. Abiy, Prime Minister Modi expressed satisfaction at the growing participation of Indian companies, Indian private sector in Ethiopia's economic transformation, particularly in the areas of manufacturing and pharmaceutical sector.

The two leaders reaffirmed that India and Ethiopia stood united in advancing a more inclusive, equitable, rule-based global order. The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to work together on global matters of mutual importance, and to amplify the voice of Global South.

Prime Minister Modi conveyed India's support to Ethiopia's accession process at the WTO, as well as membership to the New Development Bank. As all of you know, Ethiopia has recently joined the BRICS grouping, and as I mentioned, India has been a consistent supporter of Ethiopia's bid to join as borrowing member to the New Development Bank.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Modi underscored India's abiding commitment toward the wider African continent and commitment to work together in the spirit of South-South cooperation, including within the framework of India-Africa Forum Summit. Prime Minister Modi lauded the positive contribution of the members of the Indian community in Ethiopia who for decades have served as the living bridge between our two countries.

At a special ceremony organized at the Addis International Convention Center last evening, Prime Minister Modi received Ethiopia's highest award, the "Great Honor Nishan of Ethiopia" from Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy. Prime Minister Modi dedicated the award to all those Indians and Ethiopians who have nurtured the bilateral ties for ages and conveyed heartfelt gratitude on behalf of 1.4 billion people of India.

This morning, Prime Minister will be addressing the joint session of the Ethiopian Parliament, and he looks forward to his interaction with the Speaker of the Parliament and other distinguished leaders. He will also be visiting Adwa Museum, pay respects and lay wreath at the Adwa Victory Monument.

Prime Minister Modi has also invited Prime Minister Abiy to participate in the AI Impact Summit scheduled to be held in India in February next year, as also the BRICS Summit that we propose to host next year in India. As all of you know, from 1st January 2026, India will assume chairmanship of the BRICS grouping for one year.

You would have seen two press releases on PM's engagement issued last evening, as well as Prime Minister's remark on the occasion of the conferment of highest award on him by Prime Minister Abiy. You have seen the visuals emerging from various engagements, meetings, welcome ceremony which clearly indicate the warm personal connect between the two leaders.

With these words, I will be happy to respond to any questions that you may have about the ongoing visit. Thank you.

Sushil Chandra Tiwari, All India Radio News:Sir, I am Sushil Chandra Tiwari from All India Radio News. My question is sir ki donon deshon ke beech jo shikshak hain jo teacher hain, unhone ek bahut bada role play kiya hai pichle kai dashakon mein, toh ab jo kal baat cheet hui hai uske baad hum jo education ke kshetra mein kis tareeke se apne sahyog ko badhane ja rahe hain?

Aur, doosra if you can allow me to ask one more question, the second thing is what the impact of this elevation of bilateral ties to Strategic Partnership is going to impact both countries?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi]Sir, I am Sushil Chandra Tiwari from All India Radio News. My question is about the educators-the teachers-between the two countries, who have played a very significant role over the past several decades. So, after the discussions that took place yesterday, in what ways are we going to further enhance our cooperation in the field of education?

And second, if you can allow me to ask one more question: what is the impact of the elevation of bilateral ties to a Strategic Partnership on both countries?

Ashwini Mishra, DD News:Sir, main Ashwini Mishra DD News se, teen MOUs sign huye hain unme se sir ek debt restructuring the in the respect of Ethiopia under the G20 Common Framework, isme kaise Ethiopia ki vittiya sahayata sunishchit ki ja sakegi?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi]Sir, I am Ashwini Mishra from DD News. Three MoUs have been signed. One of these three MoUs relates to debt restructuring in respect of Ethiopia under the G20 Common Framework. How will this ensure financial assistance for Ethiopia?

Dipika, DD India:I am Dipika from DD India, sir. When we talk about the elevation of bilateral ties to Strategic Levels, what would be the next steps to implement the same?

Tenkujis Girma, Ethiopia News Agency:Tenkujis Girma from Ethiopia News Agency. My question is, what is expected from this visit as the two countries as members of BRICS to further strengthen the Global South cooperation? Finally, how will India support African voice and the leadership in global governance including reform of international institution as well as the representation of Africa at international global level?

Rishabh Singh, IANS News Agency: Rishabh Singh this side from IANS News Agency. My question is what role Indian private sector will play to strengthening Strategic Partnership?

Shri Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary (ER):Thank you very much for these questions. I would like to answer these questions in the order that these were raised. There were some overlapping questions also.

The first question was regarding the role of Indian teachers, jo hamare Bhartiya shikshak yahan Ethiopia mein unhone kaam kiya hai, uss partnership ko kaise aage badhayenge? Jaisa maine bola ki aap kisi bhi yahan pe Ethiopian leader se milte hain toh woh batate hain ki kis tareeke se Bhartiya adhyapakon ne yahan pe contribute kiya hai education sector mein. Toh hamari jo Ethiopia se education partnership hai woh kaafi majboot hai. Hum Ethiopia ke students ke liye kaafi scholarship program mein unko admission dete hain higher education mein, aur yahan par Ethiopia mein kaafi ruchi hai ki woh Bharat mein aake padhai karein. Toh usko dekhte huye Pradhanmantri ne jo hamare scholarship ke slots hain Ethiopia ke liye usko double karne ka announce kiya hai.

Hamara ek ITEC program hai, jaisa maloom hai aapko usme bhi Ethiopia se bahut hi officials, students, professionals aate hain, pichle das saalon mein takreeban 3,000 log Ethiopia se aaye hain ITEC program mein for skill development. So donon mila ke scholarship program aur ITEC program jo hamare hain India ke, usme Ethiopia ek bahut hi majboot bhaagidaar raha hai aur aage ke mahino mein aur varshon mein hum chahenge ki Ethiopia ki taraf se aur bachche aur students Bharat mein padhne aayein.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi]The first question was regarding the role of Indian teachers-how our Indian educators who have worked here in Ethiopia have contributed, and how we will take that partnership forward. As I mentioned, whenever you meet any Ethiopian leader here, they talk about the way Indian teachers have contributed to the education sector in this country. So, our education partnership with Ethiopia is quite strong.

We offer admissions to Ethiopian students under several scholarship programmes for higher education, and there is considerable interest here in Ethiopia in coming to India to study. Keeping this in mind, the Prime Minister has announced that the number of scholarship slots for Ethiopia will be doubled.

We also have the ITEC programme, as you are aware. Under this programme as well, a very large number of officials, students, and professionals come from Ethiopia. Over the past ten years, approximately 3,000 people from Ethiopia have participated in the ITEC programme for skill development. So, taken together-our scholarship programmes and the ITEC programme-Ethiopia has been a very strong partner for India. In the coming months and years, we would like to see even more children and students from Ethiopia come to India for education.

There were two questions regarding Strategic Partnership that both the leaders have announced, the elevation of bilateral relationship to Strategic Partnership and what it entails in actual terms and what both governments will do to realize this strategic partnership.

I think elevation of the ties to Strategic Partnership comes in the backdrop of very warm, friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation that we have enjoyed over the last few years. This elevation of course is a very landmark outcome of this visit. Both the leaders have identified new sectors of cooperation, I alluded to agriculture, health, digital cooperation in the area of Digital Public Infrastructure. Prime Minister Abiy has expressed lot of interest in technology, artificial intelligence area to work with India and to learn from India's development experience. Defense and security is another important area. We signed the MoU on defense cooperation earlier this year in India.

So, both the leaders have given us a very clear political guidance that these are the sectors in which Ethiopia is very keen to work with India. And Prime Minister Modi was very forthcoming in conveying to Prime Minister Abiy that India would work shoulder to shoulder with Ethiopia in the spirit of South-South cooperation and expand our partnership across these sectors.

As a next step, as you asked me, Dipika, that we would be engaging with our partners in Ethiopia very closely in the coming weeks and months. And we would like to lay out a very concrete roadmap across these sectors as to how we can work together with Ethiopia. I see tremendous opportunity for working with Ethiopia in the area of trade and investment, skilling, capacity building, and the whole gamut of development cooperation. So, we are very excited about taking our partnership with Ethiopia forward in a manner that has been instructed by the two leaders yesterday to all of us.

There was a question on debt restructuring. You are right that there is a G20 Common Framework on debt to address the debt vulnerability of some developing countries. They had agreed to lay out this framework. India has signed the MoU which will give some sort of leeway to Ethiopia in terms of debt payment under the lines of credit given by India to Ethiopia in the past few years.

As I mentioned, I think there was a question on BRICS. As I mentioned to you, Ethiopia has only joined BRICS last year, and we are delighted to welcome Ethiopia in BRICS. And we are going to host a number of activities under the auspices of BRICS framework beginning January next year. And Prime Minister Modi has already extended invitation to Prime Minister Abiy to participate in the BRICS summit next year. We will of course convey the details of these activities as we enter the next year.

There was also a question on how India and Ethiopia can work together to promote greater voice of Africa, and African representation in multilateral forums. I think all of you know India and Africa, India and Ethiopia share a strong commitment in strengthening Africa's voice on global decision making. We both believe, India and Ethiopia, that international institutions must reflect contemporary global realities rather than outdated structures. India supports Africa's rightful place in the UN Security Council, a stronger role in global financial bodies and greater space for African perspective on climate adaptation, trade, technology and development.

As Ethiopia is a key member of African Union and now BRICS partner also for us, we would be working very closely and coordinating with them in addressing these questions across multilateral fora.

Yes, thank you Randhir for reminding me about it. Yes, I think private sector has been playing a very important role in strengthening our trade and economic ties over the years. As Prime Minister Abiy himself mentioned yesterday, more than 650 Indian companies have sort of invested and registered with the Ethiopian licensing investment department with an investment of over US dollar 5 billion.

They have also created a number of jobs in Ethiopia, more than 75,000, that is the number Ambassador has given me. So, I think if you look at the sort of fabric of India-Ethiopia cooperation in economic matters, we do have manufacturing sector, agriculture, and of course technology and services domain. And, in all these areas, Indian private sector has been investing in Ethiopia. But given the reform agenda that Prime Minister Abiy has undertaken in the area of economy and development, Prime Minister Modi conveyed to Prime Minister Abiy that India will work very closely with Ethiopia as per Ethiopia's priorities and encourage Indian private sector to do more in Ethiopia.

So, I expect more engagement in the area of business communities and trade and investment in the coming weeks and months. Thank you.

Unidentified Speaker: Sir, there are two key sectors, one is agriculture and another one is digital public infrastructure in which India has done a lot and many countries are trying to learn from India. So, after the outcomes of yesterday's talks, what kind of plans you are seeing in next coming years?

Shri Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary (ER): Thank you very much for these highlighting these two areas of collaboration, agriculture and technology, particularly DPI. And as I mentioned to you, Ethiopia and India have signed an MoU for cooperation on DPI last year. And we are going to implement it now. We would be very happy to welcome a delegation from Ethiopia.

And Prime Minister in fact mentioned about this that Ethiopian government can send a team of officers, professionals, and with whom we can you know explain how DPI is benefitting across sectors in India. How technology can be harnessed for development. How our UPI payment system has given access to an empowered people, millions of people in India. So, I think this is a very important area of partnership which has been identified by the two leaders. And I would expect more engagement, more visits to understand what we can do together in this area.

Similarly in agriculture, as I mentioned to you, Prime Minister Modi spoke about natural farming, agri-technology, again how we are using technology in building our agri-stack and this is also an area where we would be working very closely with Ethiopia going forward. Thank you.

Ashwini, DD News:Sir main Ashwini hoon DD News se. Sir jis tarike se Pradhan Mantri Abiy ne kaha ki Bharat ke 2047 tak Viksit Bharat ke vision se woh inspire hue, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi ke. Digitalization ko unhone yahan pe ek tarike se follow kiya. Toh 2047 tak Bharat Viksit Bharat aur Agenda 2063 jo Africa ka hai. In lihaz se yeh yatra kya yeh mana jaaye ki Africa India 2.0 phase mein pahunch chuki hai?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, I am Ashwini from DD News. Sir, the way Prime Minister Abiy said that he is inspired by India's vision of a Developed India by 2047, and the way he has, in a sense, followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's digitalization model here. So, with Developed India by 2047 and Africa's Agenda 2063 in mind, can this visit be considered as Africa-India relations having entered the India-Africa 2.0 phase?

Shri Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary (ER):Bahut bahut dhanyavaad is prashn ke liye. Aapne bilkul sahi bola ki African continent wide inka ek apna vikas ka apna agenda hai jisko woh 2063 bolte hain. Aur hamara jaisa aapko maalum hai 2047 Viksit Bharat ka goal hai.

Aur dono mein jo hai kaafi similarities hain, chahe woh agriculture ho, chahe woh digital technology ho, chahe woh manufacturing sector ho, chahe woh development of human capital ho. Aur un sab kshetron mein hamari koshish hai ki jo hamari India Africa Forum Summit jiska hum koshish kar rahe hain organize karne ki African Union ke saath mein milkar, us muddon pe discussion ho aur hum un vicharon ko aur un sectors mein cooperation ko kaise aage badhayein uspe hamari baat cheet ho.

So aapne bilkul theek bola ki Agenda 2063 of Africa, and Viksit Bharat goal both converge and hum log bahut hi majbooti se baat cheet ke zariye India Africa Forum Summit ke zariye aur bilateral partnership ke zariye in muddon par baat cheet karenge aur cooperation ko aage badhayenge. Thank you.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi]Thank you very much for this question. You are absolutely right that the African continent has its own continent-wide development agenda, which is called Agenda 2063. And as you know, we have our goal of a Developed India by 2047. There are many similarities between the two-whether it is agriculture, digital technology, the manufacturing sector, or the development of human capital. In all these areas, our effort is that, through the India-Africa Forum Summit, which we are trying to organize jointly with the African Union, these issues are discussed and we deliberate on how to further advance ideas and cooperation in these sectors.

So, you are correct that Africa's Agenda 2063 and the Viksit Bharat goal do converge. We will, through dialogue-via the India-Africa Forum Summit as well as through bilateral partnerships-discuss these issues in a very robust manner and take cooperation forward. Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:With that, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the close of this press briefing. Thank you very much.

Addis Ababa
December 17, 2025