Ethiopia and the Islamic Republic of Iran do not have any agreement regarding Military Corporation except that of economy and culture underlines the Iranian Embassy in Ethiopia.
“In the olden times we had a military corporation,” said Iranian ambassador to Ethiopia, Samad Ali Lakizadeh, during a media brief on Thursday February 24, 2022 with regards to the bilateral relationship of the two countries. “We have all kinds of agreement on corporation except the military one. We don’t have any military corporation at the moment in our contemporary bilateral relation,” the ambassador added.
However, there are concerns with Ethiopian counterparts over Ethiopia’s purchase and use of Iranian drones, to which the government flatly denies to obtaining the Iranian military hardware.
The ambassador also pointed out that as of last year following the lift on the international sanction on Iran to export military equipment; his country has been able to export the equipment at a cheaper price in comparison to other countries in the market.
“At the moment we are exporting military equipment to 41 countries,” said the ambassador. However, the ambassador didn’t want to confirm whether Ethiopia was one of the purchasers or not.
With the historical and cultural ties between the two countries, the ambassador was hopeful of developments in the military arena in future between the duo.
Ethiopia and Iran have focused on strengthening trade relations and economic ties over the years. According to the Iranian Ambassador to Ethiopia, in 2021 the trade exchange between the two countries accounted to 4 million dollars. “I am not satisfied by the current relation between the two countries. Of course there is room for even greater trades,” said the ambassador.
Bilateral trade between Iran and Ethiopia grew from 19 million dollars in 2004 to 35 million dollars in 2007. “Before the pandemic, the number was about 20 million dollars,” said the ambassador adding, “This number can also go north of 100 million dollars per year if both countries maximize on the potential between each other.”
“The two countries’ economy can be complementary to each other; however, external pressure has lagged the development of the two countries relation,” the ambassador opined, adding, “we are a friendly country to Ethiopia, however, some external parties are trying to influence our bilateral relationship.”