Nobel Prize Laureate and Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Dr Abiy Ahmed, on Wednesday met and held talks with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in St. Petersburg ahead of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.
The Summit is taking place today, Thursday, July 27, and tomorrow, Friday, July 28.
“I am delighted to welcome you in St Petersburg. I would like to begin by saying that we highly value the long-standing friendly ties between Russia and Ethiopia based as they are on the principles of mutual respect and taking into consideration each other’s interests,” said Putin.
“For Russia, Ethiopia was the first country on the African continent, with which Russia established diplomatic relations. This happened 125 years ago. We marked this anniversary recently.”
“I would like to thank you, Mr Prime Minister and your team, for accepting our proposal and deciding to come here to attend the Second Russia-Africa Summit,” he added.
On Twitter, Dr Abiy said: “My gratitude to President Vladimir Putin for the warm reception and candid discussions. With our historical ties as a basis, Ethiopia and Russia will continue enhancing bilateral relations and economic cooperation.”
The two countries drafted an entire package of documents, including intergovernmental agreements on information security and air travel, a memorandum of understanding concerning information and communication technologies, a nuclear energy cooperation road map and a protocol of cooperation betweencustoms services.
They are also working together on more than 15 other intergovernmental agreements and inter-agency projects.
Russia continues to train professionals from Ethiopia with more than 20,000 Ethiopian citizens so far, completing study programmes in Russia in the past years.
President Putin said at the request of Ethiopia, Moscow increased the quota of Ethiopian students sponsored by the Russian federal budget more than three times for the 2023–2024 academic year.
The leaders agreed to maintain a regular political dialogue with close interaction between our foreign ministers as the two nations share similar positions on many topical issues of the global agenda.