Relations between Ethiopia, Indonesia Significantly Increasing: Indonesian Ambassador

Addis Ababa April 8/2022 /ENA/ The bilateral relations between Ethiopia and Indonesia are significantly increasing in all sectors, according to Ambassador Al Busyra Basnur.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the ambassador said the bilateral relations between the countries has been increasing significantly since his arrival in Ethiopia three years ago.

In the economic sector, trade between the countries is steadily increasing, he stated, adding that trade exchange was  about 70 million USD last year,  

Ambassador Basnur stated that he always pushes business people of Indonesia to invest in Ethiopia; but there is a need to further strengthen bilateral trade significantly.

“Indonesian diplomacy focuses on economy. So, 80 percent of our diplomacy in Ethiopia is economic cooperation; besides of course political and cultural cooperation. In fact until now five Indonesian companies are investing in Ethiopia. Very interestingly, I noticed that so many Indonesian businessmen would like to come to Ethiopia not only for bilateral trading but more in investment, especially in pharmaceuticals.”

Indonesia imports cotton, leather, spices, and coffee from Ethiopia, while Ethiopia's imports are dominated by soap and detergent, palm oil and its derivatives, paper, yarn, electronic devices, margarine, and furniture products, among others.

Regarding education cooperation, the ambassador said there are a lot of Indonesian universities who like to establish cooperation with Ethiopian universities.   

“Two or three months ago, Arba Minch University signed MoU with 17 Indonesian universities,” he revealed, adding that “this is an additional MoU between our two countries in education sector. Prior to that, we had MoU signed between Bahair Dar and Hawassa universities and also Oromia State University. Many others are on the process to sign MoU.”

Asked about the national dialogue proposed by the Government of Ethiopia, the ambassador said what the Ethiopian government has decided is right. “So I personally, and the Indonesian government support this initiative.”

They know how to solve their internal, regional and international problems, he added.

Noting that Ethiopia and Indonesia since the beginning have a very great relations, great cooperation in all sectors.

Diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Indonesia started in 1961.