India and Ethiopia: legation level ties from 1948 and Sardar Sant Singh as the first Ambassador

Background

Ethiopia is the country in focus in this section, and its ties with India rest on a record kept by the Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa.
After India's independence a goodwill mission led by Sardar Sant Singh visited Ethiopia, and diplomatic relations at legation level were established in 1948.
Full diplomatic relations followed in 1950, with Sardar Sant Singh as India's first Ambassador to Ethiopia.
Emperor Haile Selassie visited India in 1956, and Indian Presidents S. Radhakrishnan and V. V. Giri visited Ethiopia in 1965 and 1972.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the second India-Africa Forum Summit in Addis Ababa on 24 and 25 May 2011, and President Ram Nath Kovind made a state visit to Ethiopia from 4 to 6 October 2017.
The agreements between the two countries include an Air Services Agreement of 1967, an Agreement on Technical, Economic and Scientific Cooperation of 1969, a Cultural Agreement of 1983, a Trade Agreement of 1997 and a Double Taxation avoidance treaty of 2011.
A Joint Commission agreement and a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations were both signed in July 2007, and the second Joint Commission Meeting was held in New Delhi on 9 May 2018.
India-Ethiopia trade stood at US$550.19 million in 2024-25, with India's exports at US$476.81 million and imports at US$73.38 million. The Indian community in Ethiopia is about 2,500 strong, and about 150 Indian faculty members work in Ethiopian universities and higher education institutions.