{"id":137616,"date":"2026-05-30T13:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/137616\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T13:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:19:09","slug":"ethiopia-looks-to-emulate-israel-as-africas-new-start-up-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/137616\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia looks to emulate Israel as Africa’s new start-up hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

The relationship between Ethiopia<\/a> and Israel stretches back thousands of years \u2013 to the days of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba \u2013 rooted in biblical tradition and strengthened over decades through diplomacy, migration, trade, and cultural exchange.<\/p>\n

Today, that relationship is increasingly being shaped by technology, investment, tourism, and innovation.<\/p>\n

Speaking with The Jerusalem Post this week, Ethiopian Ambassador Tesfaye Yitayeh described a relationship that continues to deepen despite regional instability, war, and economic disruption across the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bilateral relationship between our two countries is very good,\u201d Yitayeh told the Post. \u201cI\u2019m very much happy to be part of this process, and we work hard again to further strengthen this very good bilateral relationship for the benefit of our two peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern relations between the two countries were formalized in 1956 with the establishment of embassies in Addis Ababa and Jerusalem. Early collaborations included Israeli assistance in military training and capacity-building in Ethiopia. These foundations laid the groundwork for the diverse partnership that is visible today.<\/p>\n

\"ETHIOPIANETHIOPIAN JEWS take part in a prayer of the Sigd holiday in Jerusalem last November. The God of Israel sees the heart, not the color of one\u2019s skin, the writer affirms. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

In recent years, Ethiopia has sought to position itself as one of Africa\u2019s major emerging investment destinations, with Israeli companies increasingly active in agriculture, technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

According to Yitayeh, one of the major developments over the past year was an official visit by President Isaac Herzog, as well as an investment forum held in Addis Ababa during Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar\u2019s visit to Ethiopia last May.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong with [Sa\u2019ar], there were businesspeople, and the investment opportunities were presented to them by different Ethiopian government officials,\u201d the ambassador explained. \u201cThey also had visits to show the opportunities on the ground for Israeli companies and investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel in Ethiopia<\/p>\n

Israeli involvement in Ethiopia remains especially strong in agriculture, including horticulture, irrigation technologies, agro-processing, and coffee production.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraelis are engaged in agriculture, especially high-value crops,\u201d Yitayeh said. \u201cTheir best technologies, drip irrigation technologies, are being disseminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Israeli companies are also increasingly interested in Ethiopia\u2019s digital economy, logistics sector, and infrastructure development projects, including a new major airport currently under construction southeast of Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israelis are very much interested in the cybersecurity and digital aspect of this ultramodern and big airport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Agriculture and water management continue to stand at the center of Ethiopia\u2019s interest in Israeli expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, Israelis are good at using a scarce resource, that is water,\u201d Yitayeh said. \u201cEfficiently, effectively using water in terms of water management.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Ethiopia possesses far greater natural water resources than Israel, the ambassador said the country still has much to learn regarding efficiency, recycling, irrigation, and year-round agricultural production.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the rainy season, there is plenty of water. In the dry season, there is a shortage,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe need to produce agricultural products throughout the year. The missing element is water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s MASHAV international development agency has played a significant role in helping Ethiopian agricultural development<\/a>, particularly in avocado cultivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMASHAV has already trained a number of our agronomists and horticulturists,\u201d Yitayeh said. \u201cIt played a very pivotal role in avocado development and cultivation. Now Ethiopia is able to export avocados to the European market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond agriculture, Ethiopia is increasingly looking toward Israel\u2019s technology sector as a model for its own ambitions in artificial intelligence and innovation.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia looks to\u00a0Israel\u2019s technology sector<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael calls itself a Start-Up Nation,<\/a> and Ethiopia is also trying its own version of a start-up,\u201d Yitayeh said. \u201cBut it is in the infant stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador revealed that Ethiopia has already established a national artificial intelligence center and is planning to open an AI-focused university in the coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government already gave due attention to artificial intelligence,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is an artificial intelligence center which was established three or four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope, by next year or the year after, we will establish an artificial intelligence university so that our youngsters will get training,\u201d he continued. \u201cHopefully, after five or six years, we will be able to work using AI in different economic sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yitayeh added that Ethiopia hopes to work closely with Israel in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is much advanced in using artificial intelligence,\u201d he said. \u201cSo Ethiopia again will learn a lot in this regard as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Energy is another sector rapidly changing Ethiopia\u2019s economic landscape.<\/p>\n

When the Post last spoke to Yitayeh, in January 2025, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had not yet officially opened. Since then, Ethiopia formally inaugurated the massive hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile, which the ambassador said is already transforming the country\u2019s energy capacity and attracting foreign investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam alone adds more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity annually,\u201d he told the Post. \u201cOne of the comparative advantages that Ethiopia has is its cheap energy supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador said the dam is already helping attract foreign manufacturers and investors to Ethiopia\u2019s industrial parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing many companies from the Far East or elsewhere in the world coming and installing their production sites in Ethiopia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia has also begun exporting electricity to neighboring countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, and Djibouti, with future supply plans extending to South Sudan and Somalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthiopia is in a position to be the electric powerhouse in the Horn of Africa or East Africa,\u201d Yitayeh told the Post.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the ambassador acknowledged that the regional wars involving Israel and Iran have had a significant economic impact on Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war has always played a very negative role in economic development and attracting investment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He specifically pointed to rising global oil prices and fertilizer shortages caused by the disruption in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe price of fuel is skyrocketing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt affected not only the investment flow, but the normal day-to-day life of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yitayeh noted that Ethiopia Airlines was forced to suspend flights to Israel for more than a month after Israeli airspace closures during the war with Iran, before quickly resuming service once flights were permitted again.<\/p>\n

Tourism, however, remains one of the ambassador\u2019s biggest priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unique nature of Ethiopia-Israel tourism is that it is a two-bound one,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

On one side are Ethiopian Christian pilgrims visiting Israel\u2019s holy sites, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, and the Jordan River. On the other are Israeli Ethiopians traveling back to visit their ancestral homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people are going to Ethiopia and visiting the places where their ancestors were farming, were praying, where the graveyards are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Yitayeh believes tourism between the two countries still has enormous untapped potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of Israelis visiting Ethiopia is small,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to increase the number of Israelis who are visiting, taking into account the historic relationships and ties between our two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to Ethiopia\u2019s growing tourism infrastructure, including new resorts and improved travel facilities developed over the past several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of tourist destination sites in Ethiopia,\u201d he said. \u201cHistoric, cultural, ethnic, natural.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador also revealed that discussions have begun internally regarding the possibility of a future visa waiver agreement between Israel and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

\u201cA visa waiver is very important,\u201d Yitayeh said, \u201cso people can move easily. Visas should not be a barrier to travel either to Ethiopia or Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel’s Ethiopian Jewish community<\/p>\n

The Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel<\/a> continues to serve as a bridge between the two nations, with many members maintaining strong emotional, cultural, and family ties to Ethiopia. Israelis of Ethiopian origin are entitled to a special visa waiver known as an Ethiopian Origin ID, which allows them to stay in the country beyond the usual three-month period allowed under the tourist visa.<\/p>\n

According the ambassador, Ethiopians have a very positive view of the Jewish state across the Red Sea, with many Ethiopians admiring Israel\u2019s resilience and technological achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are very much interested in the way Israel changed this country as a whole,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are very appreciative of the technological level and the resilience of Israeli society.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that many Ethiopians are fascinated by Israel\u2019s achievements in desalination, recycling, agriculture, and innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to come and see this development,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wanted to prove whether it is true or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another growing area of cooperation between the two countries is academia.<\/p>\n

The ambassador revealed that several Israeli and Ethiopian universities are now developing partnerships involving joint research, scholarships, and academic exchanges.<\/p>\n

Among them are collaborations between Holon Institute of Technology and the Ethiopian Science and Technology University, as well as Ben-Gurion University and Addis Ababa University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey identified about eight areas of cooperation and collaboration,\u201d Yitayeh said. \u201cThere will be joint research, academic exchange, and scholarship programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing that, and it is going in the right direction,\u201d he added. \u201cBut we have to work hard to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The relationship between Ethiopia and Israel stretches back thousands of years \u2013 to the days of King Solomon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[1011,10279,989,39282,11741,37,45472,947],"class_list":["post-137616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-agriculture","tag-ai","tag-diplomacy","tag-ethiopia","tag-high-tech","tag-israel","tag-start-up","tag-technology"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116663731132681098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}