Ethio- Kazakhstan Relations
Historical Background
The relationship between Ethiopia and Kazakhstan was established in September 2011. The two countries have maintained friendly and cordial relations.
Kazakhstan opened its Embassy in Addis Ababa in March 2011 and Ethiopia’s official diplomatic relations with Kazakhstan started with the appointment of a non- resident Ambassador in Ankara, Turkey in June 2012.
The new Ambassador of Kazakhstan was the Deputy Permanent Representative in New York and he was appointed as Ambassador to Pakistan after his diplomatic service in New York. The Ambassador had visited Ethiopia in September 2013 as the Special Envoy of his country in relation to Kazakhstan’s bid for membership of the United Nations Security Council. He met with the then Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus and exchanged views on strengthening bilateral relations.
This was followed by the visit of the then Foreign Minister of
Kazakhstan Irlan Idrissov to Ethiopia in December 2013. The Minister met and
held discussions with High-level officials of our government and addressed the
Permanent Representatives Committee of the African Union on Kazakhstan’s Africa
policy.
We have an MoU on Bilateral
Political Consultation that was signed in September 2016 at the sidelines of
the 71st UNGA Summit. We are
also working on draft agreements to cooperate with Kazakhstan in the fields of
trade, culture and tourism and education where Kazakh showed interest to
cooperate as well.
During the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, UNDP and the
government of Kazakhstan launched a new program known as the
Africa–Kazakhstan Partnership for the SDGs to help 45 African countries
implement the newly-inaugurated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). $2
million is allocated to the program for technical support to ministries of
foreign affairs and other relevant institutions in these countries.
There are good opportunities
for further strengthening and enhancing relations between the two countries in
the political field, as well as in cultural and economic spheres. Kazakhstan
and Ethiopia has good potential for expanding bilateral cooperation in mining,
agriculture, infrastructure, trade, and education. Encourage the
Kazakhstan side to enhance the economic relations between the two countries
especially in trade, investment, and also to cooperate on education and
tourism.
Bilaterally we can cooperate in the fields of Education (scholarship),
Agriculture (textile and cotton), mining, food, and agro-processing,
Infrastructure and construction sector, trade and tourism.
