Ethiopian Foreign Minister Arrives in Turkey Monday, Inaugurates New Embassy Building

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen is set to arrive in Turkey on Monday February 15th for a two-day visit to its Capital Ankara.

The visit marks the celebration of 125 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Turkish Anadulo Agency reports the Ethiopian Foreign Minister’s agenda to include the inauguration of a new building for his country’s embassy in Ankara, in the presence Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Mekonnen and his Turkish counterpart are scheduled to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues.

Ethiopian-Turkish relations started in 1896 under the rule of Sultan Abdulhamid II and Emperor Menelik II. According to Turkish Foreign Ministry website, the first Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Sub-Saharan Africa was opened in Addis Ababa, in 1926, followed by the inauguration of the Ethiopian Embassy in Turkey in 1933.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan first visited the sub-Saharan country in 2015, launching a cooperation that accounted for 200 active Turkish firms in Ethiopia in 2019, entailing 20,000 jobs and 2 billion USD in investments.

This, in addition to 355,5 million USD in bilateral trade between the two countries in 2018 in addition to scholarships provided by the Turkish government to Ethiopian students to strengthen bilateral relations.