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 :
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- 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.
