Addis Ababa, September 12, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopia is strengthening its productive capacity across strategic sectors including food, pharmaceutical manufacturing and digital technology, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said, presenting domestic production as a foundation for resilience and greater economic self-reliance.
Addressing the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Abiy said the country’s approach is shaped by the need to ensure that essential systems can continue functioning when economies come under pressure.
“That’s why resilience must be built before a crisis,” he said.
In agriculture, Prime Minister Abiy highlighted Ethiopia’s progress in moving from dependence on imported wheat toward self-sufficiency, saying the shift has also changed the country’s position in relation to the proposed BRICS grain exchange.
“We therefore approach the proposed BRICS grain exchange as both a producer and a supplier,” he said.
He identified healthcare as another sector where Ethiopia is building domestic production capacity, drawing on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In health, the pandemic taught us a similar lesson. Preparedness requires production,” Prime Minister Abiy said.
He said Ethiopia is expanding pharmaceutical manufacturing as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s ability to respond to health needs through domestic productive capacity.
Technology represents another major area of Ethiopia’s capacity-building efforts, with the Prime Minister highlighting the development of digital public infrastructure covering digital identity, payments and data exchange.
He said Ethiopia is also putting in place rules to ensure that data is used securely and lawfully, linking the expansion of digital infrastructure with responsible management of emerging technologies.
Prime Minister Abiy further pointed to artificial intelligence as an area where Ethiopia is seeking to build indigenous capability, citing the ambition of the country’s Maddamer University of Artificial Intelligence to contribute to the development of AI that better understands and serves Africa.
Beyond these sectors, he said Ethiopia is expanding renewable energy and electric mobility while investing in more resilient agriculture, cities and infrastructure.
The Prime Minister also identified the country’s growing industrial base as an area for deeper partnership, particularly in minerals, renewable energy and industrial development.
Taken together, the sectors highlighted by Prime Minister Abiy point to an approach that places productive capacity at the center of Ethiopia’s resilience agenda — from producing more food and medicines domestically to developing digital systems, energy capacity and industrial capabilities.
The approach also positions Ethiopia not only as a market for international cooperation but increasingly as a producer and partner, with the country seeking to connect its expanding productive capacity to wider opportunities within BRICS.
Prime Minister Abiy’s remarks at the summit therefore presented production as a strategic component of national resilience, with capacity-building across food, health, technology, energy and industry serving both domestic needs and Ethiopia’s wider economic engagement.