On the afternoon of August 23, 2023 local time, President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed Ali on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.

Xi Jinping noted that China is a reliable friend and a sincere partner of Ethiopia. In recent years, the two countries have maintained frequent high-level exchanges and communication, and cooperation within the frameworks of Belt and Road cooperation and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has yielded fruitful results. China is advancing Chinese modernization with high-quality development, which will bring new opportunities for China-Ethiopia cooperation. China attaches great importance to developing its relations with Ethiopia and supports Ethiopia's domestic peace process, development and revitalization. China stands ready to work with Ethiopia to enhance bilateral exchanges and expand all-round cooperation, so that bilateral friendship can enjoy greater popular support and the China-Ethiopia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership can achieve further development.

Xi Jinping emphasized that the two sides should continue to firmly support each other on issues concerning respective core interests and major concerns, increase the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Ethiopia's Ten Years Perspective Development Plan (2021-2030), and accelerate the implementation of cooperation projects including Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway and green development. China encourages more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Ethiopia, and welcomes Ethiopia’s use of the "green channel" for the entry of African agricultural products to China to expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation. China stands ready to work with Ethiopia to advance the implementation of the "Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa" and make contributions to regional peace and stability.

Abiy Ahmed Ali said that the friendship between Ethiopia and China is very profound and bilateral relations have maintained sound momentum of development. Abiy Ahmed Ali extended his sincere gratitude for the massive valuable support China has given to Ethiopia over the years, and said that thanks to the help from and cooperation with China, Ethiopia has seen great development and changes in recent years. Ethiopia and China have similar experiences and share the same positions on many major issues. Ethiopia highly values its friendship with China, firmly pursues the one-China policy, supports the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative put forth by President Xi Jinping, and actively participates in the Belt and Road cooperation. Ethiopia stands ready to learn from China's governance experience to better achieve its own national development. Ethiopia will deepen cooperation with China in agriculture, mining and other fields, and hopes to join the BRICS for closer cooperation in multilateral mechanisms, so as to open up a better shared future for the two countries.

Cai Qi and Wang Yi, among others, attended the meeting.