Addis Ababa: India and Ethiopia held the second Joint Defence Cooperation meeting in Addis Ababa on Monday, where they discussed areas of mutual interest in the fields of military training, military exercise, medical cooperation, peacekeeping and defence industries.
During the meeting, the officials of two sides agreed to expand and deepen defence cooperation activities through exchange of personnel from training institutes, exploring avenues for joint ventures in defence production, delegation visits and experience-sharing interactions, a statement released by the Ministry of Defence mentioned.
The meeting was co-chaired by Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Defence and Major General Teshome Gemechu, Director General for Defence Foreign Relations and Military Cooperation, Ethiopia. The Indian delegation comprised officers from the Department of Defence and Air Headquarters. India’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Devesh Uttam, also attended the meeting.
This visit marks a pivotal step in defence ties between the two nations and reinforces India and Ethiopia’s commitment to work together. According to the statement, it is also part of the institutional mechanism established through the signing of the Defence Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Defence Ministers of India and Ethiopia in February last year. The first India-Ethiopia Joint Defence Cooperation was held in New Delhi in October, last year.
“Ethiopia is an important defence partner of India and the partnership started way back in 1958. During the visit of Prime Minister of India to Ethiopia in December 2025, the bilateral relationship between the two countries was elevated to the level of ‘Strategic Partnership’,” the ministry stated.
On September 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed Ali held a meeting on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi and discussed ways to strengthen the strategic partnership across various sectors.
During the meeting, the two leaders reviewed progress across key sectors, including economic cooperation, defence and security partnership, and capacity building. PM Modi and Abiy Ahmed Ali also discussed regional and international developments of mutual interest while reaffirming their commitment to close cooperation in multilateral fora.
(IANS)
