Addis Ababa, June 8, 2026 — The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) has unveiled a new probiotic starter culture named “Etittuu,” which enables the fermentation of milk. The institute officially launched the product today during a joint discussion forum and exhibition organized in connection with World Milk Day. Speaking at the event, Agriculture Ministry Advisor and State Minister Ifa Muleta said the “Etittuu” probiotic starter culture will help save foreign currency by substituting imported products and is expected to make a significant contribution to increasing the productivity of milk and dairy products in Ethiopia.     He further noted that the innovation supports the government’s broader efforts to strengthen food security and nutrition under the country’s agricultural policy framework. He also highlighted the positive results being recorded under the Yelemat Tirufat (Bounty of the Basket) Initiative, launched at the initiative of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. According to him, the program has already generated tangible improvements in dairy production while helping stimulate investment and encourage greater private-sector participation in the livestock and dairy sectors. He added that the launch of the “Etittuu” probiotic starter culture is expected to further energize producers and other stakeholders across the dairy value chain. EIAR Director General, Professor Niguse Dechassa, on his part, said the newly developed probiotic starter culture will not only help reduce foreign currency expenditure on imported starter cultures but also enable pasteurized milk to be fermented within four hours, improving efficiency in dairy processing.     The Director General explained that milk and dairy products are among the key agricultural commodities on which the institute conducts research. He further highlighted the institute’s significant contribution to the agricultural sector through the development of improved crop and livestock varieties based on scientific research. According to him, various biotechnology-assisted research projects focusing on improving dairy productivity are currently underway.

Addis Ababa, May 30, 2026 —Ethiopia is looking to Israel’s Start-Up Nation model as it builds its own AI sector and strengthens technological cooperation. The relationship between Ethiopia and Israel stretches back thousands of years – to the days of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba – rooted in biblical tradition and strengthened over decades through diplomacy, migration, trade, and cultural exchange. Today, that relationship is increasingly being shaped by technology, investment, tourism, and innovation.   Speaking with The Jerusalem Post this week, Ethiopian Ambassador Tesfaye Yitayeh described a relationship that continues to deepen despite regional instability, war, and economic disruption across the Middle East. “The bilateral relationship between our two countries is very good,” Yitayeh told the Post. “I’m very much happy to be part of this process, and we work hard again to further strengthen this very good bilateral relationship for the benefit of our two peoples.” Modern relations between the two countries were formalized in 1956 with the establishment of embassies in Addis Ababa and Jerusalem. Early collaborations included Israeli assistance in military training and capacity-building in Ethiopia. These foundations laid the groundwork for the diverse partnership that is visible today. In recent years, Ethiopia has sought to position itself as one of Africa’s major emerging investment destinations, with Israeli companies increasingly active in agriculture, technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects. According to Yitayeh, one of the major developments over the past year was an official visit by President Isaac Herzog, as well as an investment forum held in Addis Ababa during Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s visit to Ethiopia last May. “Along with [Sa’ar], there were businesspeople, and the investment opportunities were presented to them by different Ethiopian government officials,” the ambassador explained. “They also had visits to show the opportunities on the ground for Israeli companies and investors.”   Israel in Ethiopia Israeli involvement in Ethiopia remains especially strong in agriculture, including horticulture, irrigation technologies, agro-processing, and coffee production. “Israelis are engaged in agriculture, especially high-value crops,” Yitayeh said. “Their best technologies, drip irrigation technologies, are being disseminated.”   He added that Israeli companies are also increasingly interested in Ethiopia’s digital economy, logistics sector, and infrastructure development projects, including a new major airport currently under construction southeast of Addis Ababa. “The Israelis are very much interested in the cybersecurity and digital aspect of this ultramodern and big airport,” he said. Agriculture and water management continue to stand at the center of Ethiopia’s interest in Israeli expertise. “You know, Israelis are good at using a scarce resource, that is water,” Yitayeh said. “Efficiently, effectively using water in terms of water management.” Though Ethiopia possesses far greater natural water resources than Israel, the ambassador said the country still has much to learn regarding efficiency, recycling, irrigation, and year-round agricultural production. “In the rainy season, there is plenty of water. In the dry season, there is a shortage,” he explained. “We need to produce agricultural products throughout the year. The missing element is water.” Israel’s MASHAV international development agency has played a significant role in helping Ethiopian agricultural development, particularly in avocado cultivation. “MASHAV has already trained a number of our agronomists and horticulturists,” Yitayeh said. “It played a very pivotal role in avocado development and cultivation. Now Ethiopia is able to export avocados to the European market.” Beyond agriculture, Ethiopia is increasingly looking toward Israel’s technology sector as a model for its own ambitions in artificial intelligence and innovation. Ethiopia looks to Israel’s technology sector “Israel calls itself a Start-Up Nation, and Ethiopia is also trying its own version of a start-up,” Yitayeh said. “But it is in the infant stage.” The ambassador revealed that Ethiopia has already established a national artificial intelligence center and is planning to open an AI-focused university in the coming years. “The government already gave due attention to artificial intelligence,” he said. “There is an artificial intelligence center which was established three or four years ago. “I hope, by next year or the year after, we will establish an artificial intelligence university so that our youngsters will get training,” he continued. “Hopefully, after five or six years, we will be able to work using AI in different economic sectors.” Yitayeh added that Ethiopia hopes to work closely with Israel in the field. “Israel is much advanced in using artificial intelligence,” he said. “So Ethiopia again will learn a lot in this regard as well.” Energy is another sector rapidly changing Ethiopia’s economic landscape. When the Post last spoke to Yitayeh, in January 2025, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had not yet officially opened. Since then, Ethiopia formally inaugurated the massive hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile, which the ambassador said is already transforming the country’s energy capacity and attracting foreign investment. “The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam alone adds more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity annually,” he told the Post. “One of the comparative advantages that Ethiopia has is its cheap energy supply.” The ambassador said the dam is already helping attract foreign manufacturers and investors to Ethiopia’s industrial parks. “We are seeing many companies from the Far East or elsewhere in the world coming and installing their production sites in Ethiopia,” he said. Ethiopia has also begun exporting electricity to neighboring countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, and Djibouti, with future supply plans extending to South Sudan and Somalia. “Ethiopia is in a position to be the electric powerhouse in the Horn of Africa or East Africa,” Yitayeh told the Post. At the same time, the ambassador acknowledged that the regional wars involving Israel and Iran have had a significant economic impact on Ethiopia. “The war has always played a very negative role in economic development and attracting investment,” he said. He specifically pointed to rising global oil prices and fertilizer shortages caused by the disruption in the region. “The price of fuel is skyrocketing,” he said. “It affected not only the investment flow, but the normal day-to-day life of the people.” Yitayeh noted that Ethiopia Airlines was forced to suspend flights to Israel for more than a month after Israeli airspace closures during the war with Iran, before quickly resuming service once flights were permitted again. Tourism, however, remains one of the ambassador’s biggest priorities. “The unique nature of Ethiopia-Israel tourism is that it is a two-bound one,” he explained. On one side are Ethiopian Christian pilgrims visiting Israel’s holy sites, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, and the Jordan River. On the other are Israeli Ethiopians traveling back to visit their ancestral homeland. “So many people are going to Ethiopia and visiting the places where their ancestors were farming, were praying, where the graveyards are,” he said. Yitayeh believes tourism between the two countries still has enormous untapped potential. “The number of Israelis visiting Ethiopia is small,” he said. “We need to increase the number of Israelis who are visiting, taking into account the historic relationships and ties between our two countries.” He pointed to Ethiopia’s growing tourism infrastructure, including new resorts and improved travel facilities developed over the past several years. “There are a lot of tourist destination sites in Ethiopia,” he said. “Historic, cultural, ethnic, natural.” The ambassador also revealed that discussions have begun internally regarding the possibility of a future visa waiver agreement between Israel and Ethiopia. “A visa waiver is very important,” Yitayeh said, “so people can move easily. Visas should not be a barrier to travel either to Ethiopia or Israel.” Israel's Ethiopian Jewish community The Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel continues to serve as a bridge between the two nations, with many members maintaining strong emotional, cultural, and family ties to Ethiopia. Israelis of Ethiopian origin are entitled to a special visa waiver known as an Ethiopian Origin ID, which allows them to stay in the country beyond the usual three-month period allowed under the tourist visa. According the ambassador, Ethiopians have a very positive view of the Jewish state across the Red Sea, with many Ethiopians admiring Israel’s resilience and technological achievements. “People are very much interested in the way Israel changed this country as a whole,” he said. “They are very appreciative of the technological level and the resilience of Israeli society.” He added that many Ethiopians are fascinated by Israel’s achievements in desalination, recycling, agriculture, and innovation. “They wanted to come and see this development,” he said. “They wanted to prove whether it is true or not.” Another growing area of cooperation between the two countries is academia. The ambassador revealed that several Israeli and Ethiopian universities are now developing partnerships involving joint research, scholarships, and academic exchanges. Among them are collaborations between Holon Institute of Technology and the Ethiopian Science and Technology University, as well as Ben-Gurion University and Addis Ababa University. “They identified about eight areas of cooperation and collaboration,” Yitayeh said. “There will be joint research, academic exchange, and scholarship programs. “We are doing that, and it is going in the right direction,” he added. “But we have to work hard to do more.”

Addis Ababa, May 18, 2026 —Senior Ethiopian government officials say the country is making significant strides toward gaining full control of its national data ecosystem, as part of broader efforts to strengthen policy independence, enhance governance efficiency, and accelerate economic transformation. The announcement was made during a national conference held in Addis Ababa under the theme “Data Sovereignty for Policy Autonomy,” attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and senior government officials. Officials said Ethiopia is rapidly expanding control over how national data is collected, stored, managed, and used in policymaking—marking a major shift away from fragmented systems that previously relied heavily on external support.   The conference underscored the government’s efforts to build a self-reliant statistical and digital governance framework capable of producing credible, locally generated data to guide national development priorities. Officials noted that Ethiopia has made substantial progress in documenting its development achievements through stronger statistical systems, helping shift policymaking toward evidence-based decision-making. Minister of Planning and Development Fitsum Assefa said Ethiopia is transitioning from foreign-dependent data systems to a self-reliant model rooted in Prime Minister Abiy’s Medemer philosophy. She noted that newly introduced household, tourism, and business surveys are helping shape reforms under Ethiopia’s Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda and the country’s Ten-Year Development Plan.   State Minister of Planning and Development Abas Mohammed said official statistics become effective governance tools when they are legally protected, technically sound, and publicly accessible. He highlighted progress in household surveys, full dissemination of the Demographic and Health Survey, and advances in agricultural and economic censuses led by Ethiopian professionals. Deputy Director of the Ethiopian Statistical Service Dr. Meron Kifelew said the country has transitioned from paper-based systems to fully digitized real-time data operations using technologies such as Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, cloud infrastructure, and an enumerator tracking platform developed with Information Network Security Administration. She said Ethiopia has connected 26 statistical branches nationwide and introduced an AI-powered survey dashboard as part of efforts to build sovereign digital intelligence capabilities.   Another ESS official, Abdulaziz Shefa said national statistics are increasingly being placed at the center of development planning, citing improvements in agricultural census systems and demographic surveys aligned with Agenda 2063 and the United Nations. State Minister Bereket Feshatsion said development management reforms are modernizing planning, monitoring, and service delivery by addressing fragmented systems and weak accountability structures. He noted that a unified digital platform currently used by more than 113 public institutions is enabling real-time performance monitoring under the government’s “One Plan, One Report” framework. Meanwhile, State Minister Zerihun Kebede said Ethiopia’s digital sovereignty agenda has moved from ambition to implementation through a national monitoring and evaluation platform that integrates key indicators, programs, and performance targets into one system. He said the platform is designed to eliminate fragmented reporting systems and support institutions with real-time, AI-powered insights for better policymaking. Director General of the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute Worku Gachena said Ethiopia is also building sovereign digital infrastructure to ensure national data is stored, governed, and processed domestically.   He highlighted plans under Digital Ethiopia 2030 to establish sovereign cloud infrastructure, a national data lakehouse, and indigenous multilingual AI models designed to support local languages and generate economic value. Officials said the initiative reflects Ethiopia’s broader push to strengthen national sovereignty through technology while positioning the country as an emerging regional leader in data-driven governance and digital transformation.

Addis Ababa, May 18, 2026 —Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed underscored Ethiopia’s growing strides toward data and statistical sovereignty during the national conference and exhibition held under the theme, “Data Sovereignty for Policy Autonomy.” The Prime Minister noted that the event marked a significant milestone in Ethiopia’s journey toward strengthening its capacity to generate, manage, and utilize its own data resources for national development.   He described the progress achieved in the sector as encouraging and emphasized that, in today’s world, data has become a strategic national asset and a fundamental pillar of sovereignty. According to Prime Minister Abiy, building a strong nation-state requires independent and reliable data systems, stressing that reliance on borrowed data or external institutions cannot effectively support Ethiopia’s long-term national ambitions.   The PM further highlighted that developing domestic capacity to collect, analyze, and interpret data is essential to ensuring policy autonomy and evidence-based decision-making. The Prime Minister also expressed pride in seeing Ethiopians lead data collection and analysis through their own expertise and innovation, describing it as a reflection of the country’s growing self-reliance.   He also stressed that data initiatives should go beyond numerical measurements and remain focused on improving the lives of citizens, emphasizing the need for human-centered approaches that deliver tangible social and economic benefits.