Ethiopia and China announced on Monday an "All Weather Strategic Cooperation Partnership", during a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Xi Jinping.
The leaders discussed ways of enhancing economic cooperation between their countries, elevating the bilateral relations from the earlier level of "Comprehensive and Enduring Strategic Cooperative Partnership".
After a "fruitrful" discussion, the sides issued a joint statement on the Establishment of the All-Weather Strategic Partnership, which intends to level up the ties between both countries.
"China continues to be a critical partner for Ethiopia. Gratitude to President Xi Jinping for the warm welcome and the fruitful discussion," Premier Abiy twitted.
In the same vein, Zhao Zhiyuan, China's ambassador to Ethiopia, commented that the establishment of the new level of partnership is a milestone for the friendship between the two countries.
According to a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xi Jinping congratulated Ethiopia on joining the BRICS mechanism and pointed out that the African nation is an important participant in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Xi said that over the past ten years, China-Ethiopia BRI cooperation has been extensive, fruitful and pace-setting in Africa.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister is on visit in China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which is a global economic and political event associated with China's Belt and Road Initiative. The third edition of the forum is being held on October 17-18. Its goal is to create new ways for regional economic partnership.