Ethiopia and the U.S.

For more than a century, Ethiopia and the United States have enjoyed warm government-to-government and people-to-people relations. Those ties have transcended the passage of time, and the strong bonds of partnership and friendship have continued, unhindered by respective changes in government.

The U.S.-Ethiopian relationship was formally established in December 1903 following nine days of meetings in Ethiopia between Emperor Menelik and the government of Ethiopia and Robert P. Skinner, an emissary of President Theodore Roosevelt. Ethiopia appreciated Americas commercial interest in Ethiopia, and that the United States did not possess colonial designs similar to those that were currently being pursued throughout Africa by European powers.

The talks between Ethiopia and the United States yielded a jointly-signed document known as the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. This agreement accorded Ethiopia Most Favored Nation status and eventually led to full diplomatic relations between the two countries.

For more than a millennium, Ethiopia has remained an independent state, and is the only African nation never to be colonized. Today, Ethiopia boasts a strong relationship with the United States and is a valuable partner in the war on terror. Ethiopia is a lynchpin of stability in The Horn of Africa, a region of vital national security interests for the United States.

Ethiopia is a young, federal-style democracy made up of 80 different nationalities and peoples–each with diverse cultures and indigenous traditions. For centuries, Ethiopian followers of Islam, Judaism and Christianity have lived together in harmony.

Ethiopia deeply treasures its partnership with the United States and looks forward to continuing to strengthen the ties of friendship that unite these two great nations and their people.