Addis Ababa, Dec 17 (AHN) India's Ambassador to Ethiopia, Anil Kumar, on Wednesday said that the trajectory of ties between India and Ethiopia will be high, stressing that increasing the bilateral relationship to strategic partnership showcases that the leadership of two nations has given directions to transform the main ideas into outcomes.

In an interview with AHN, Ambassador Kumar stated that India and Ethiopia's decision to elevate the partnership to a strategic level showcases that the relationship is more dynamic and far more closer.

"The trajectory of relationship will be high. We have decided to elevate the relationship to strategic partnership. So, this means that we have to work much closer, work in confidence and have to come up with tangible outcomes. So, increasing the relationship to the strategic partnership itself reflects that the leadership has given directions to us to bring the main ideas into outcomes so that we have good examples to prove on the ground. It will span from political consultations, discussions on international issues as well as economy and co-production. So, people-to-people and diaspora connect will also be an integral part of this strategic relationship between both countries."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday concluded a two-day State Visit to Ethiopia during which he and Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed Ali held bilateral discussions covering a wide range of issues, including political cooperation, economic engagement and strategic partnership. The two leaders also witnessed the exchange of several Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) spanning key sectors of cooperation.

Kumar stated that the cooperation between India and Ethiopia in the field of education and skilling is well-known and noted that over 2000 Indian students are pursuing their graduation or PhD programmes in India.

On being asked how India plans to expand cooperation with Ethiopia in the education sector, he stated, "This week, we have announced that the short-term scholarship for graduation courses will be doubled. So, that will further increase the opportunities for the Ethiopian students to pursue higher degrees in India. The main idea for capacity building is to address the critical gaps. In the due course, you will find that we come up with courses which run from one month up to two weeks and these are the courses which are intended to bridge the critical gaps in various sectors of economy including the knowledge-based economy and it has been extremely powerful. So, this education cooperation has much wider mandate and both the sides will sit down and discuss that how we can further increase the cooperation both in terms of numbers and the type of courses which we offer to them," Kumar told AHN.

On PM Modi's receiving Ethiopia's highest honour, he said, "This is a very rare moment when Ethiopia has given its highest national award to a foreign head of state and head of government. In fact, Prime Minister Modi is the first person to receive this award and this shows the type of confidence and the type of expectations which Ethiopia has with the leadership. Prime Minister Modi has offered this award to 1.4 billion people who are the wheels and the instruments for this good friendship which exists between both the countries. It also brings us new energy, enthusiasm and much stronger motivation to move forward and convert the friendship into tangible outcomes in coming months and years."

PM Modi was conferred Ethiopia’s highest civilian honour, the ‘Great Honour Nishan of Ethiopia' on Tuesday. The award was presented by the Ethiopian Prime Minister in a special ceremony held at the Addis International Convention Centre in recognition of PM Modi’s exceptional contribution to strengthening India-Ethiopia ties and his leadership as a global statesman.

"By elevating the partnership to a strategic level, the relationship will be more dynamic and far more closer. We will be working on all aspects of diplomacy which starts from political consultations at bilateral and international levels and jointly working towards reforming the multilateral institutions. When it comes to economic engagement, it will span in various sectors where both the countries are having complementary relationship and the whole scheme is very wide. It starts with agriculture, irrigation, fertilizer production, sustainability, education, healthcare, particularly the pharmaceutical production, defence cooperation and it extends to the new areas of technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc," the Indian Ambassador remarked.