The Ethiopian government has hailed the Ethiopia-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as the two countries embark on a series of activities to mark the 50th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

“The diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and China have been growing ever since the two countries established official diplomatic ties back in the 1970s,” the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued over the weekend.

It added that the Ethiopia-China ties have over the years strengthened across various sectors, mainly following the decision among the two countries’ governments to elevate bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership back in 2017.

According to the ministry, the partnership platform has facilitated the further deepening of the Sino-Ethiopian ties across economic, social, political, defense as well as peace and security sectors.

Amid the ever-expanding Ethiopia-China relations, the two countries have also elevated their people-to-people, party-to-party as well as governance and institutional level cooperation, according to the ministry.

“As the year 2020 marks the Golden Jubilee in the Ethiopia-China diplomatic relations, various activities are underway both in Ethiopia and China to colorfully celebrate the overall progress and transformation as well as future prospects in the two countries’ relations,” the ministry said.

The ministry also stressed that the Golden Jubilee celebrations are also expected to highlight the past progress and future progress in the two countries’ growing knowledge transfer, finance, and technical cooperation.