BY ZEKARIAS WOLDEMARIAM
Ethiopia and India have a longstanding relation that stretched from about 2000 years ago and reinvigorated in the modern times through the diplomatic relations that kicked off 75 years ago, in 1948. Since then, India has been a strong ally of Ethiopia in the political, economic and cultural spheres.
The two sisterly countries still enjoy strong bilateral relations in all sectors that are manifested by various practical achievements. The growing trade and investment between India and Ethiopia has defied the global challenges of COVID-19 pandemic reaching about USD 1.1 billion in 2020. India has also remained the 4th largest trading partner of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is also one of the important market destinations of the globally acknowledged Indian pharmaceuticals and automotive industry, especially auto rickshaws and tractors.
Through strong educational cooperation, Ethiopian students have formed the largest community of African Students in India. Many Ethiopian families and youth also enjoy Indian movies to the extent of mastering Indian language, Hindi and appreciating the culture that puts a finger print on the people to people ties.
During his recent interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia and African Union, Mr. Robert Shetkintong, has elaborated on the historical as well as contemporary relations of the two countries. Have a nice read:
I would like to say ‘Thank you’ for your willingness for our interview. Can we start with the overall situation of bilateral ties of Ethiopia and India?
First of all, welcome to the Indian Embassy. The Indian Embassy should be like your home because Ethiopia and India have excellent relations. Our relations go thousands of years, when traders from India and Africa including Ethiopia had contacts. Through those contacts, they have established good relations. If you go to Lalibela you will see those beautiful rock-hewn churches which are about 800 years; these were built 800 years ago. But actually, we have these single stone rock temples of South India that were built 2000 years ago. So, I believe that because of these contacts through trade, people have exchanged ideas about rock engineering. Number two, our food habits, whether it is the Ethiopian spices, whether it is Injera, we have similarities with Indian cuisine, the Indian spices and the Indian Dosa. So, you have Injera and Dosa which are fermented foods. So, I think there are similarities and this is because we have contacts over the last two to three thousand years.
You will recall that in 1936 when foreign forces were in Addis Ababa, people in India organized demonstrations to show their solidarity with the sisters and brothers in Ethiopia. So, actually on 9 May 1936, we organized Day of Ethiopia in India that is because Indians always look at our friends in Ethiopia as their own. In 1960s and 70s, you also saw thousands of Indian teachers teaching even in the remote areas of Ethiopia. So, invariably, your science or mathematics teachers in the schools were from India. So, education is very important. In the modern context, the commercial aspect is evident, because we have about 617 Indian companies investing in Ethiopia and giving employment to more than 75,000 Ethiopian nationals. So, overall, cumulative, we Indians have invested about USD 5 billion, but we estimate that about USD 3 billion are on the ground. So, these are just a window into our relationship.
Many Ethiopians know India through the movies through the film, many Ethiopians know the culture of India. So how do you see that? What did you see from the Ethiopians awareness of India, and its culture?
I was pleasantly surprised, actually to interact and meet a number of Ethiopian nationals who can converse in Hindi, who can speak Hindi fluently. And I did not expect the reasons as to why they can speak Hindi fluently – they said that it was by watching Hindi movies. Actually, they are capable of speaking Hindi. So, what I can gather through my interactions with them is that Hindi movies are very popular here. Hindi movies are a source of entertainment, where all the family members come together and watch Hindi movie for about two-three hours and enjoy the movie. So, actually, the film, the movies or the entertainment aspect
in our relations is something we will try to revive or the embassy will try to do something in the next two years, because India will be celebrating 75 years of its independence. We have already started from March 2021 this will go up to August 2023. And in 1948, Ethiopia was one of the earliest countries from Africa to establish diplomatic relations with India. So, in 2022, we will be celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries. So, for the next two years, starting from now till August 2023 we will be organizing lots of cultural programs, lots of cultural evenings not only in Addis Ababa, but also in various cities and in various regions of Ethiopia. So, at least we will try to revive the cultural aspect. And, I know that the Ethiopian embassy in New Delhi has a cultural center and a very vibrant cultural center with various activities. At the moment, the COVID pandemic has created some pause in our activities. Otherwise, I think for the next two years, we will be doing many cultural activities.
As you said you have seen many Ethiopians speaking Hindi. So, what about the culture in the movies and all of these things, how much of the culture assets and aspects transported and many of these aspects reflected by Ethiopians?
Indian movies show India’s culture, family and how communities come together to celebrate festivals and all these are similar to Ethiopian culture. So when Ethiopian nationals come together as families and they watch the Indian movie, actually, they see their lives on the screen. Ethiopian film industry is nascent, it is new, but actually it is improving. We will have to sit down and work together; we will have to explore possible areas of collaboration where you know, as some of the Ethiopian actors and actresses can even go to India and act in movies or we could bring some collaboration between our two industries; we will see, but inshalah when that comes about, I think it will be a great success.
And let me pass to a similar question about education. As you said earlier, there are many Indian teachers, especially in science and mathematics. What about maintaining this good legacy in Education between Ethiopia and India?
Education is always important for any society any country, but more so, for countries like India and Ethiopia, you know, education is very important. So, today in Ethiopia, we have about 1,500 to 2,000 Indian professors and lecturers teaching in various public universities in Ethiopia. I think they are doing an excellent job number. We also have Ethiopian students studying in various colleges and universities in India. Actually, students from Ethiopia form one of the largest groups of students from Africa studying in India. We have lots of students who are self-financing themselves studying in India. In addition, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, our foreign ministry sponsors 60 scholarships to Ethiopia every year. So, these are full scholarships provided by Government of India. So, we provide scholarships for undergraduate, postgraduate or even research scholars. So, these are 60 seats that we provide every year. In addition, we have what we call Study In India program, where the Indian Ministry of Education pays for the academic or tuition fees. So, under the Study In India program, students will have to compete online, write their exams. About 2,000 students are provided scholarship under this scheme. And I know that last year many of the Ethiopian students have availed this scheme.
Then, if you look at India, we always believe to share the knowledge that we have. From the time of our independence, we spent a lot of money and resource in developing what we call temples of higher learning. So, we have very famous universities; these are really excellent centers of higher learning. Since we have more capability in this area, India decided that we will share our knowledge with our sisters and brothers from Africa and Asia. Every year, we give training program to about 400 people from Ethiopia. Only last year because of the COVID pandemic we were not able to send them to India, otherwise these are short term training programs. Mostly it is the government officials who avail these short-term training programs. But also, some of some private individuals also go to India to attend some such programs. So you will see that we try our best to be as helpful or as cooperative as possible.
Can you tell me about the trade ties and the trade balance between Ethiopia and India? How is it progressing?
In terms of trade, India is one of the largest trading partners for Ethiopia. As of last year, we were the fourth largest trading partner. Now, that in 2019, our bilateral trade was USD 1.2 billion. Last year 2020 it dipped a bit, but still it stood at USD 1.1 billion. So, it’s a substantial trading basket that we have, it is diverse. It is also a fact that the balance of trade is in India’s favor. But we can always sit down; we can always work together and see whether we can increase more exports from Ethiopia to India.
Now, while the COVID pandemic has created havoc, you will be surprise to know that actually, there were 35 new Indian projects in Ethiopia during that period. And two of them are pharmaceutical plants. One of the plants is called Kilitch Estro. This is a joint venture between Indian and Ethiopian businessmen. Actually, they are going to start their operations anytime. Almost all of all things are already on the ground and they’re going to start manufacturing. The other one is a standalone Indian investment. This is called Glocare and they are going to start their operations at Kilinto Industrial Park. So, they are also about to start. So, it is also a surprise to know that many of the Indian companies here are actually expanding their operations – they are growing; they are expanding. Why is this all happening? That is because you have a committed leadership here in Ethiopia – they are listening to people; they are improving your regulations. So, naturally, you are creating a very, very positive environment for foreign investors to come here. And this fits well, when Ethiopia says that the country will be one of the manufacturing hubs by 2023. So, yeah, everything fits well and it is very commendable.
Can we also talk in terms of the items that Ethiopia imports from India? Just throughout the times it has been improving from the simple consumer goods to heavy duty machineries from India and India’s products are becoming influential in other countries too.
One is pharmaceuticals or medicines. The Indian medicines are of excellent international standards, there are of good quality, and the prices are affordable. So, you will see that not only in Ethiopia, but probably in most of the countries in Africa, Indian medicines are available actually; probably about 50 to 60 per cent of the medicines in any country in Africa are from India. Then, Indian automobiles; let us start with the three wheelers. You know, you call it Bajaji. Actually it is the name of a company that produces this Three Wheeler, but it is so popular that they call it Bajaji. When you go to Adama, you will see the Hora Trading Group. They assemble Bajajis at Adama. When you go to Gelan, please visit the Warka Group. They assemble about 300 Indian Bajaj bikes at their plant every month, they have the capacity to assemble many more bikes. Why? Because the condition of the Indian bikes or Indian Bajajis are so suitable for Africa. When you go to Dire Dawa, please visit the Redwan Motors assembly plant. They assemble the TVS auto rickshaws and also the Tata small trucks. I have visited these plants and they are excellent state of the art. They are Ethiopian owned. When I interact with the owners, they are so happy with the business standards that the Indian companies have. They say that they can only think about India.
And the Indian tractors are suited to the landscape here in Ethiopia. So, the small size Indian tractors are very popular. And I see more scope of increasing Indian tractors or the visibility of Indian tractors here in Ethiopia.
As the largest democracy in the world how does the government of India view Ethiopia’s preparation to conduct the upcoming sixth round national general elections?
Elections are very important for any democratic country. And it is always with pride that a citizen can say that I have voted for my candidate. You have already conducted so many elections in the past, you will, again. I’m very confident that you will conduct the next elections successfully. You are the second largest country in Africa in terms of population, you have capabilities, and you have institutions that can manage anything. So I am confident that you will conduct your elections successfully.
In connection with the election, and as well as with law enforcement operations that the federal government conducted in northern Ethiopia, the government is facing a lot of challenges from different countries, especially the West. How do you see that?
So, what we have said is that Ethiopia is an independent sovereign country, and it can manage all its internal affairs or internal matters. So, what we have said is that what happened in Tigray is an internal matter. And it is for Ethiopia to decide what steps it should take, what remedies it should take. In the end, your country should progress and the people of Ethiopia are united, so that they can have the benefits of what economic development is. So, in the end, what we are saying is that you are a sovereign country, this is an internal matter.
And countries like the US just trying to intimidate Ethiopia with sanctions and suspension of loan and aid. So, some people including the government also view this as a means of prolonging the impacts of neocolonialism. So, what is India’s stance in this regard?
I can only talk for India. So, please look at what India has done. We have provided what we call concessional lines of credit to Ethiopia. So far, we have constructed three sugar factories. What we have told Ethiopia or what we have told our friends from Africa is that you decide what you want. It is for Ethiopia or countries in Africa to decide what you want us to do. Then only India will come and provide you the concessional lines of credit. We never dictate; we never give preconditions. We have given grants including medical equipment to Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa; we have donated some rice, medicine to Ethiopia. We donated because we were confident that this is a genuine Ethiopian requirement and these will always stand to benefit you.
Finally, what do you suggest as a diplomat or government of India to further enhance the bilateral ties between India in Ethiopia?
At the political level, visits have taken place regularly. We have Ethiopian Prime Ministers visiting India, and the last visit of Ethiopian Prime Minister was in July 2015. The last visit of an Indian President to Ethiopia was in October 2017. So, our political relations are excellent. Now, during this time, when visits normally do not happen, we had the opportunity of the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia visiting India in February 2021. During this visit, the Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and the Indian External Affairs Minister discussed all aspects of our bilateral relations. The Foreign Ministers have given us directions and we will continue to expand our relations. I think their directions are clear and we need to work hard, we need to push all frontiers so that both the countries can benefit. Now, why am I saying all this is because it should not be one sided dialogue; it is by discussions, it is by interactions between the two parties, that we come to know the best things that can happen for both countries. So, when I came here, I was given this clear mandate that whatever I do here should benefit both countries. So, I will not just undertake an activity that will only stand to benefit my country. At the embassy – me and my colleagues – we will undertake activities that will be mutually beneficial for both the countries. So we are very clear. And this will happen only when we have dialogue, when we are interacting and when we have frank discussions.
What message would you like to pass for the people of Ethiopia?
What I can only say at the moment is that Ethiopia and India have excellent relations. Let us continue to build this. The path may not be so easy, there will be hurdles, but we can always solve it. In the end, it is the people of both countries that will stand to benefit in the long run. And we at the embassy also have been encouraging Indian investors to come and explore this beautiful country because the opportunities are abundant. Ethiopian Airlines flies to India and many Indian passengers use Ethiopian Airlines because it is one of the few airlines that fly to above 60 destinations in Africa. You see that many Indian businessmen who are traveling to various parts of Africa, transit through Addis Ababa. So I have always told Indian businessmen to stay for two, three days in Addis and explore the business opportunities and they will not regret.
Thank you very much.
The Ethiopian Herald June 19/2021
