The relations between the EU and Ethiopia are founded on the Cotonou Agreement, its Articles 8 to 13 define the bilateral political dialogue between the two parties, as well as in a set of other conventions and political commitments. The EU and Ethiopia look back on 42 years of constructive bilateral relations in areas as diverse as development cooperation, trade and economic development, consolidation of democratic institutions, regional peace and security and migration. Ethiopia is one of the EU's important partners on the African continent, active in regional peace and security as well as on thematic international debates such as climate change.

Against this background, the EU and Ethiopia decided to enhance the level of the partnership. On 14 June 2016, H.E. Prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia and H.E Jean-Claude Junker, European Commission President, signed a Joint Declaration towards an EU-Ethiopia Strategic Engagement. This commits both sides to an annual Ministerial Meeting and six sectoral dialogues: Governance and Human Rights; Regional Peace and Security; Countering Terrorism and Violent Radicalisation; Migration; Social and Economic Development, Investment and Trade; and Climate Change and Environmental Cooperation.

In this engagement the two sides also affirm their commitment to the fundamental principles of sustainable development, democracy, human rights, good governance and the rule of law; regional cooperation and integration. Moreover, the two sides intend to enhance their cooperation to maintain the dynamic economic growth and the ambition of Ethiopia to join middle income countries on the basis of green and inclusive economic growth.

Sustainable development is a prerequisite for poverty eradication, social development and the creation of an inclusive, strong and diversified economy. The EU and Ethiopia engage to support and reinforce mechanisms aimed to promote decent work and the economic and social integration of vulnerable populations, paying particular attention to situations of extreme poverty and social exclusion. The two sides also look at ways of maximising the social and economic impact of development cooperation while ensuring sustainability, including through improved alignment of EU donors with the Growth and Transformation Plan II and Ethiopia's Climate-Resilient Green Economy Strategy. The EU works with Ethiopia to exchange information and best practice on issues related to education, vocational education and training and capacity building.

The EU Delegation works to facilitate the participation of greater numbers of Ethiopian students, university staff and researchers through Erasmus+ and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and to continue to work on the mutual recognition of academic degrees. The EU and Ethiopia promote the importance of science and technology, research and development, information communication technology and the transfer of know-how as a basis for sustainable development. The EU works to help create a strong economy that rests on its functional and structural diversification, the improvement of productivity and competitiveness, the promotion of Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), an enhanced qualification of the human capital and a well-trained labour force who has the skills that are required on the labour market. The EU and Ethiopia also work together on private sector development and the improvement of the business climate.

The EU believes that Ethiopia's sustainable development should be underpinned by continuous democratisation process. In this regard, Ethiopia and the EU are committed to the promotion of good governance, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as to the fight against corruption at the national, regional and international levels. Recognising that democracy is work in progress, the EU continues to work towards the consolidation of democratic governance and to the building up of a vibrant civil society, including social partner organisations, working together to address some vital areas of governance and human rights, including the reinforcement of a democratic political culture; freedom of the press and of association; protection and promotion of cultural diversity; to promote the development of relevant institutional capacity; international human and labour rights instruments and their implementation; transparency and accountability; fight against corruption; adequate social protection systems and social dialogue; as well as gender equality and women empowerment. The EU also works with civil society to encourage reciprocal accountability and to improve dialogue with the Government.

Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has been expanding access to health services through the successful implementation of its Health Extension Program (HEP) with a focus on prevention and primary health care services. Despite progress in access, huge challenges remain in improving the quality of care and addressing health inequalities.

In recognition of Ethiopia's experience in defining relevant & credible health sector development strategy and its implementation track records, the EU support to the sector is mainly through Budget Support operation with strategically defined accompanying capacity development actions reinforcing the policy dialogue at different levels.

Snapshots of the EU ongoing support in the health sector:

• Health Budget Support: The Health BS programme has been implemented with a focused policy dialogue on quality of care, addressing inequality and improving domestic financing for health. In addition to the health-specific disbursement trigger indicators, the set of PFM related triggers (increase expenditure in health, increased allocation to national family planning program, and per capita increase of block grant transfers to regions) are expected to leverage MoH’s negotiation capacity in the budgeting process. 
• Health BS Capacity Development Actions: The Capacity Development actions are strategically defined to reinforce the Health BS policy dialogue with priorities on (i) building capacities to further strengthen the sector strategy in addressing inequity and improving quality of care; (ii) strengthening the sustainability of health care financing and enriching policy dialogue at sub-national levels. 
• Social Determinants of Health (SDH) for Gender Equality: Ethiopia’s encouraging results on health indicators at national level hide stark inequalities across regions, sex, wealth groups, and rural and urban areas. Looking at geographic inequalities, the Developing Regional States (DRS) are performing far below the national average, which needs context specific and tailored interventions to narrow inequalities.  The Social Determinants of Health (SDH) for Gender Equality program is thus, aimed at addressing other determinants having impact on health outcomes of women and adolescent girls in the DRS (Afar, Gambela, Somali, and Benishangul-Gumuz). The intervention mainly focuses on family planning and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH), nutrition, WaSH, and harmful traditional practices (HTPs). 

Support to Ethiopia’s response to COVID-19

COVID-19 poses serious challenges and risks to the capacity of health systems all over the world. Medical personnel are working under extreme pressure, often with limited supplies and equipment. During the start of the pandemic in Ethiopia (March 2020), supplies and equipment were in urgent demand and the EU rapidly mobilized EUR 10M and disbursed in April 2020 to support Ethiopia’s preparedness and response to the pandemic. 

It is also evident that currently, access to COVID-19 vaccines is a central topic for governments worldwide. The EU has been leading efforts to set up multilateral structures to ensure global access, and COVAX is in place to coordinate the joint efforts for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to all.

Ethiopia is co-chairing the global COVAX initiative, and the EU Delegation appreciate the Ministry of Health, particularly Dr. Lia’s strong commitment and leadership in ensuring equitable access to vaccines. The distribution of COVAX procured vaccines is ongoing, from which Ethiopia has received the first round of 2.2 million vaccines.

Cultural Diplomacy is one of the major focus areas of EU. The EU promotes European culture and intercultural dialogue as a core part of the EU Public Diplomacy, working hand in hand with the EU Member States and cultural institutes. In Ethiopia, there is a four-member European Union National Cultural Institutes (EUNIC) cluster made up of the "British Council", the French "Alliance Francaise", the German "Goethe Institute" and the "Italian Cultural Institute". A programme of European and Ethiopian cultural events, including a European Film Festival and a number of music festivals held annually. The EU Delegation reaches out to strategic audiences by organising a wide range of events and activities aiming at fostering engagement in two-way dialogues with young people, political figures, media, academia, business and civil society. These dialogues aim at promoting and explaining EU policies, raising awareness about EU issues and concerns and the importance of partnership, strengthening bridges by cultivating mutual respect and understanding based on shared values and interests.

For decades, Ethiopia has been steadily linked to the idea of food insecurity. Since 2005, the GoE in partnership with the EU and other donors put in place the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) to tackle those recurrent food crises. PSNP provides multiannual predictable transfers, in food, and/or cash, to help millions of chronically food-insecure households to survive food deficit periods and avoid depleting their productive assets. In exchange, able-bodied individuals earn wages by working on public works projects for 30 days during a period of six months each year during the lean season. The public works assets created by PSNP address root causes of poverty and vulnerability, by restoring watersheds, land rehabilitation and building much needed basic infrastructure. It is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and is co-financed with the support of the EU and other 9 donors. The 4th phase of PSNP (2015-2020) targets up to 10 million people, it has a budget of €3 billion and its goal is to build resilience by improving food security, nutrition and the creation of livelihood and job opportunities.

Aware that to solve the causes of food insecurity, a broader and more ambitious goal is necessary to build resilience in those communities to withstand the recurrent shocks, ECHO and DEVCO jointly put in place in 2012 the EU Resilience building programme in Ethiopia. RESET is an innovative approach tackling chronic humanitarian and long-term needs and recurrent food insecurity. RESET is a multi-sectoral, multi-level and multipartner, and is aimed at enabling households and communities to withstand, adapt, and quickly recover from stresses and shocks such as droughts and other natural disasters without compromising long-term development. RESET complements and even reinforces activities carried out by PSNP and other flagship programs, working closely with the government, other donors and civil society organisations under a coordination model called "cluster".  The RESET Programme covers 8 geographical areas of 5 regions (Amhara, SNNPR, Somali, Afar, and South Omo) targeting more than 1 million chronically vulnerable men and women. The programme is implemented by more than 30 international and national NGOs and international organisations. The motto is: "saving lives, saving livelihoods".

Ethiopia is a country of origin, transit and destination of migrants from the region and is situated at the centre of the regional migration corridor from Somalia and Eritrea to Sudan and/or Yemen. Ethiopia is a key partner for the stability and the management of migratory flows in the region, due to its role in hosting large numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries, its proactive policy of fighting traffickers and smugglers, and the interest of Ethiopians in migrating to neighbouring countries and regions in search of labour.

The EU and its Member States pursue an open dialogue on migration with Ethiopia through the Common Agenda for Migration and Mobility (CAMM) and, within the framework of the Strategic Engagement, the sectoral dialogue on migration. The EU aims at implementing the five priority domains of the Valletta Action Plan:

• Development benefits of migration and addressing root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement;
• Legal migration and mobility;
• Protection and asylum (including support to the large refugee population in the country and the host communities);
• Prevention of and fight against irregular migration, migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings;
• Return, readmission and reintegration.

Finally, Ethiopia is one of the five priority countries identified in the Communication on establishing a new Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration.

Through the EU Trust Fund for Africa, EU actions address the root causes of irregular migration in the most migrant-prone regions of the country, promoting economic and employment opportunities, particularly for vulnerable people, through vocational training, access to microfinance or by creating industrial parks. Actions also aim to strengthen resilience and combat drivers of instability, to improve the long-term development and protection needs of refugees and their host communities, and to better manage migration at a regional level, including the sustainable reintegration of migrants.