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Ethiopian Civil Service University held a seminar on Iran-Ethiopia Bilateral Foreign Relations in the Period of Multipolar World on January 24, 2023 at Hidasse Hall. The seminary was organized by African Institute of Governance and Development and ECSU’s scholars and students participated.

At the opening of the seminar, Dr. Alemayehu Debebe, vice President for Research and Community Service, welcomed the speaker on the seminar, Ambassador Samad Ali Lakizadeh, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Ethiopia and permanent representative of Iran to AU, and the participants and said that it is a great pleasure and pride to have such a scholarly gathering and being with this gathering to attend the seminar delivered by Honorable Ambassador Samad Ali. He also noted that Ethiopia and the Islamic Republic of Iran share many things in common not only in the present but also in the glorious past.  “We know Iran with its Persian civilization and you know Ethiopia with its ancient civilization of the Axsumite Kingdom. We have been together all these long historical destinations and distances. But the interest is not only in the past, we have to review the present. Not only reviewing the present, but also making a bridge into the future” Dr. Alemayehu noted. He also expressed his belief that the young scholars participating in the seminar will make a strong bridge that might not be affected by any kinds of conditions and pressures within the current multipolar international relationship. 

The speaker on the seminar, Honorable Ambassador Samad Ali expressed his pleasure and thanked the university to provide him the opportunity to deliver his speech to the academic community in which the university scholars, researchers and students participated.   He noted that many people do not know about the historical relationships between Iran and Ethiopia. According to him, Ethiopia and Iran established their official diplomatic relationship in 1915 and in the same year opened the Embassy of Iran here in Addis as the second embassy in the continent following the opening of the Iranian  Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. This is however, a short period of relation in contemporary bilateral relations, as both countries had a longstanding historical relationship that goes back to 2500 years ago starting from Persian Empire in Iran and Axsumite Empire in Ethiopia. Both countries were among the few ancient civilizations. They are proud to have such a longstanding relationships. They did not only had trade and commercial contact which is the nature of the basic need for making communication between them, but also had very close cultural relation and military exchange from early ancient time as literature indicates, he noted. During the last seventy years of non-stopped closed diplomatic relations, Iran and Ethiopia have signed memorandums of understanding in different fields such as science and technology, trades and commerce, education, health, industry technical cooperation, etc. to increase their relations in different aspects, Ambassador Samad Ali said.   

The Ambassador also indicated that both countries have many similarities and commonalities. Belonging to a few ancient civilizations, having never been colonized, enjoying colorful cultural celebrations, enjoying real pluralisms and diversity and unity as well as strong beliefs in multinationality are among the major commonalities between them. They are also still suffering from external economic and political pressure because of their independence. This is also the other similarity between the two countries, he added.

Iran and Ethiopia at the international level also had many opportunities to cooperate and used these opportunities to increase their cooperation. Both countries are a member of non-aligned movement, group 77, and work together within the framework of south-south cooperation.     

On the bilateral relation, Unfortunately, Ethiopia has no diplomatic representation in Iran and there is no Ethiopian Embassy in Tehran, despite the longstanding relations between the two countries. Lack of knowledge by Iranian regarding Ethiopia and the vice versa is also a challenge to the bilateral relations to both countries. The information and knowledge about each other is very important to dispatch the correct images of Iran and Ethiopia and provide the atmosphere for both sides to know each other for better understanding. For the boosting of bilateral relations, and cooperation we hope soon opening of Ethiopian Embassy in Tehran, Ambassador Samad Ali added.