Ethiopia wants to modernise army in cooperation with Russia- Amb

Addis Ababa, January 27, 2020 (FBC) -Russia finished delivering Pantsir-S1 air defence missile-gun systems to Ethiopia in November, Sputnik news agency reported.

Ethiopian Ambassador to Russia Alemayehu Tegenu, told the news agency that the countries held a fruitful defence cooperation meeting that same month.

“The meeting was very successful. The committee reached a lot of agreements,” the ambassador said.

According to ambassador Alemayehu, the next meeting will be conducted this year in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, probably in November.

The ambassador expressed Ethiopia’s desire to modernise its armed forces, in particular its peacekeeping and counterterrorism capabilities, in cooperation with Russia.

“We will continue working with Russia because we want to modernise our military force. As you know, our military is very strong in the region, participating in peacekeeping operations, working to combat terrorism too. In this regard we always want to cooperate with countries like Russia”, the ambassador said.

He added that Ethiopia would continue contributing its troops to the regional peacekeeping forces but would at the same time welcome international support.

Ambassador Alemayehu also said that Ethiopia would be very happy to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has never been on an official visit to Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew previously invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to come to Ethiopia.