Armenia, Ethiopia   Elevating Ties Rooted in Unique Historical Friendship, Says Deputy FM

Addis Ababa, June 12, 2025 (ENA) - Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vahan Kostanyan underscored that his country has been seeking stronger ties with Ethiopia rooted in unique historical friendship.

During his recent official visit to Ethiopia, Kostanyan spoke to ENA, highlighting the century-old friendship and strong bilateral ties between Ethiopia and Armenian.

According to him, relations between the Ethiopian and Armenian peoples date back to the 4th century, and today, the two countries continue to enjoy a growing and enduring friendship.

In particular, the Deputy Foreign Minister specifically noted that the legacy of the Armenian people remains visibly present in Addis Ababa.

Though now small in number, the Armenian community in Ethiopia has a centuries-old presence, originally drawn to the country—especially Addis Ababa—as traders and artisans.

The Armenian community flourished, becoming trusted members of Ethiopian society, it was learned.

 

To this effect, Kostanyan said the legacy of Armenian people is quite present in Addis Ababa and Armenians of different professions including jewelers, musicians and traders. 

“I do believe they (Armenians) supported the development of Ethiopia. we already have 32 years of diplomatic correlations between Armenia and Ethiopia……And we do a unique chance to build on the historical friendship of our two nations to strengthen bilateral interstate,” he said.

The Deputy FM further elaborated that Ethiopia and Armenia have still tremendous potentials they would offer to each other and exert a maximum efforts in  this direction.

 

“The political consultations and the discussions that I had with the senior officials of Ethiopia during  the last two days show that there is a great potential for our interstate relations to be strengthened in different areas, be it political, be it economic, be it on education, high tech, etc.”

Considering his visit as a significant diplomatic gesture, the Deputy Foreign Minister pointed out that Ethiopia and Armenia have been deepening their bilateral relation in the spheres of culture, education, high tech and healthcare.

For instance, he pointed out that Armenia has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ethiopia to deepen the science, cultural and education cooperation.

“I would also like to mention that just two weeks ago a quite high-level delegation led by our Deputy Minister of Culture and Science and Education was in Addis Ababa with the representatives of different cultural and educational institutes. Some memorandums of understanding were signed during the visit which already framed the potential cooperation between the two countries.”

 

Moreover, Ethiopia and Armenia currently held political consultations and exchanged views on having an intergovernmental commission which will have a more holistic look to cooperation in different areas.

The political consultations touched upon regional issues in Horn of Africa, the wider African continent as well as global affairs, the Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated.

The consultation also emphasized the need for reinforcing multilateralism as the two countries are active members of international organizations including the UN, he noted.