Shri Robert Shetkintong is Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia. Shri Robert Shetkintong joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2001 he served in the Ministry of External Affairs as Under Secretary / Deputy Secretary in External Publicity Division and as Joint Secretary for Parliament & Coordination. He was posted in Indian Missions including Israel, Italy, Slovenia and Tanzania. He has been appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in August 2020. He talked to Capital about the two countries relations regarding trade, investment and military cooperation. Excerpts;
Capital: How do you see the current relation between the two countries?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: Our relations go thousands of years but let me talk about the contemporary relations that we have, India got its independence in 1947 the following year Ethiopia was one of the first countries from Africa to establish diplomatic relation with India which next year the two countries will commemorate the 75 years of their diplomatic relations.
Politically leaders from Ethiopia visited India and Indian leaders has also visited Ethiopia in different times, such as in October 2017 president Ram Nath Kovind has visited Ethiopia also from Ethiopia former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn had visited India in 2015 for the 3rd India Africa forum and also Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen had visited India in February 2021 which is during the COVID pandemic times.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have also spoken in telephone during the COVID pandemic and both leaders have stressed that we should work together, we should cooperate so that our bilateral relations will grow stronger so the directions from our leadership’s are very clear and we are two countries that have excellent relations that we should push forward.
The last high level meeting took place in New York on the sidelines of UNGA, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonen met Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New York.
In the multilateral foreign relation India and Ethiopia have always worked together during the last one year we are very thankful and grateful to Ethiopia for supporting Indian candidates in various international elections. And at the UN summits in Geneva India has always taken this principled stand that whatever issues we are talking about Ethiopia, solutions would be Ethiopian led within the framework of a sovereign Ethiopia.
And with regard to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam even at the UN last discussions on the dam India has clearly stated that the three countries Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt should come together and discuss or negotiate and we believe that there should be African solutions to African problems.
And all members of the UN have clearly stated that these negotiations should be AU led. We always looked Ethiopia as a friend, as a sovereign country.
Capital: The trade balance between the two countries is huge and has been increasing from time to time so what have been done to narrow the gap?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: Issue of trade imbalance is not only applicable to Ethiopia, but is also probably applicable to many countries in Africa. Right now for example 95 to 99% of exports from Africa to India is tax free.
Currently most of exports from Ethiopia or Africa are mainly agricultural products. But over the years we will expect more exports from Ethiopia and Africa. It will not just happen immediately but it will happen over the years, the core thing which needs to be focused is that Africans should add value to narrow the gap.
The other thing is India wants to promote business and trade relations with Africa that is why today any Ethiopian businessmen who want to go to India for business visa free. We don’t charge any visa fee for the business which is one way of trying to encourage businessmen to go explore and then we will slowly start addressing this trade imbalance.
Capital: How do you see the investment of Indian companies in Ethiopia, what are you doing to increase the investment more?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: I think the most visible component of our bilateral relations is in business. When it comes to business and trade, I think we are in the right path. About 650 Indian companies are registered with the Ethiopian Investment Commission. In the last 1 and half years I have visited 150 Indian factories. Just to give you some numbers, we estimate that these Indian factories give employment to 75,000 Ethiopian nationals.
At Bole-Lemi and Hawassa Industrial Parks we have about 10 Indian textile factories. They give employment to about 20,000 Ethiopian workers. We have the presence of Indian factories and Indian establishments in all sectors including agricultural, manufacturing, tannery, packaging, transformers and so on.
India is one of the top three bilateral trading partners with Ethiopia and last year the trade balance between the two countries was about USD 1.1 billion. The bilateral trade basket is very diverse and there is tremendous scope to even increase it further. For example, last week 47 Indian Pharma companies participated at The Ethiopian Health Congress and Exhibition.
Now, Indian Pharma companies in the short run probably are looking at exporting medicines or devices to Ethiopia and in the long run Pharma companies are looking at setting up their factories here in Ethiopia.
So, for example, in the Pharma sector, we already have one joint venture called Cadila Pharmaceuticals at Gelan and there is another one around Sandafa area. These factories are already producing medicine also this week new Indian investment Glocare Pharma Manufacturing PLC was inaugurated al Kilinto Industrial Park and there are one or two Indian pharma companies who are already allotted land in the park.
I had spoken about that 47 Indian pharma companies during that three day exhibition, some of them actually had gone and seen Kilinto Industrial Park to setting up their businesses.
In promoting the investment Ethiopian Investment Commission has planned to conduct roadshows for investments in India with Ethiopian embassy in India. They make presentations about the investment opportunities in Ethiopia.
Capital: Indian companies have been the largest foreign investors here in Ethiopia but now they slipped down, why is that?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: In terms of investments India is the second largest. These are all private investors and most of the Indian factories or investors are investing their hard earned money. It is not like they’re coming and taking loan and investing. Typical of an Indian factory is that they will go to one place quietly and will establish a factory and will give employment to 100 or 200 or 300 workers and since it is their own money, they have to make sure that they will run the factory on sound economic terms. They will never leave the country. That is why many common people will find that Indian investments are not visible. But actually there are as I told you 650 companies that are registered and we believe around 400 are active on the ground.
Capital: How does the government of India supporting Ethiopia in the education sector?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: Education is an important component of our bilateral relations, during Imperial times, and the years after that thousands of Indian teachers were here. Many of them were even in the remote schools in Ethiopia which if you interact with people from that generation invariably they would have an Indian teacher who would have taught them either science or mathematics.
Lots of Ethiopian students have also studied in India. Today we have about 1,200 Indian professors and lecturers teaching in more than 40 public universities in Ethiopia. And our Indian professors and lecturers are also the real ambassadors contributing to bring collaboration between Ethiopian universities and Indian centers of higher learning. Every year the Indian Foreign Ministry, or what we call Indian Council for cultural relations, gives 60 scholarships to Ethiopia and during the last academic year actually out of 60 scholarships 23 of those scholarships were for PhD studies.
So we at the embassy are also given this emphasis that many of these Ethiopian public universities give priority to increasing the capacity of their faculty. So giving them PhD scholarships will contribute to improving the faculty of the of the public universities in Ethiopia. So in the embassy, we are very keen to do anything we can or what we could so that Ethiopia can progress and both the countries will progress together.
Even Ministry of Education of India also provides various scholarships under what we call study in India initiative. In addition, there are also many universities in India that give scholarships on their own. In addition, I think, equal or more number of Ethiopian students are also studying on self-financing basis. That is because the standard of education in India is very good in global terms and the tuition fees or the expenditure is comparatively affordable, and the culture or the people are similar. In fact Ethiopian students probably are the first or second largest group of students from Africa studying in India.
Capital: How closely are you working with the government especially in modernizing the agriculture sector?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: Our relation is private sector driven. There are about 20 Indian companies that have established farms in Ethiopia. For example in the sugar factory there is only one private sugar factory in Ethiopia and that is an Indian factory near Nekemt. There’s also another Indian factory that grow sugarcane and mango orchard. Then, we have a number of strawberry farms and also a few horticulture farms.
Capital: Is there any Indian companies or investment that has been damaged due to the conflict of the country?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: I think there were about 10 Indian factories in Mekele including three textile factories and two steel factories. There is another steel factory in Shire. I think five people are still there in that factory. We will see how they are doing in the future.
Capital: How is the participation of Indian companies in the construction sector?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: Actually we have two Indian companies. One is called DMC and the other one is Larsen and Toubro. So DMC has constructed one highway near Nekemt’e in western Welega. They have already completed that project. The second project is from Adama to Awash highway. So they have already started the project. These are two big contractors beside we have consultants who provide consultancy service in this sector. There are about five or six Indian companies.
Capital: What is your involvement in the military sector?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: India has always believed in capacity building. We have been conducting what we call Indian technical and economic organization. These are short term courses. Every year we provide about 400 slots for Ethiopians.
During the last two years because of the COVID we did not have physical trainings; very soon we will revive training programmes. These are fully funded by government of India. So, we also provide training programmes for the army, navy or Air Force to attend various training programmes in India.
Harar Military Academy was like a replica of the Indian Military Academy. When the Emperor visited India in the 1960s he saw the military academy and he was very impressed and established a similar one. First three commandments or directors of Harar Military Academy were Indians. And during that time, all the army officers who are graduated from Harar Military Academy we consider really elite and very professional. When the Derg regime came, they closed the Harar Military Academy and it became Harar Military School. And before Eritrea became independent we had naval instructors at the academy there. Then we also have the last group of instructors who taught at the Holeta Academy that was I think between 2011 and 2013. So since then, military instructors have not come to Ethiopia, but India has conveyed that we are always willing to bring instructors, willing to assist in capacity building.
Capital: Is there any event or session you planned to prepare to increase the social or the cultural ties of the two countries?
Shri Robert Shetkintong: Next week one cultural group from Ethiopia will be going to India. They will be participating at the Surajkund International Crafts Mela. So, I think they will be there for two or three weeks. India is celebrating its 75 years of independence and also 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. So we are expecting many cultural groups to come from India.
