Addis Ababa, September 4, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopia has placed secure and peaceful access to the Red Sea at the heart of its national security and wider regional stability agenda, with Ambassador Nebiyu Tedla describing maritime access as a matter of national security and national survival for the country.
Speaking in an interview with DD India ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Nebiyu said the Red Sea is a waterway of critical economic and strategic importance not only to countries in the region but also to the wider international community, making its stability a matter of broader global concern.
He said tensions surrounding the Red Sea are compounding already fragile regional conditions, with consequences extending across Yemen, Sudan and Somalia and into the wider Middle East. For Ethiopia, he said, the stakes are particularly fundamental because access to the sea bears directly on the country’s security and long-term national interests.
Ethiopia therefore advocates peaceful access to the Red Sea and the peaceful resolution of regional tensions and political differences in accordance with international law and the United Nations Charter, the envoy said.
The position places Ethiopia’s maritime agenda within a broader diplomatic approach that links national interests with regional connectivity, economic integration and collective security.
Rather than treating the Red Sea solely as a security theatre, Ethiopia views the waterway as a strategic economic corridor whose stability is indispensable to regional prosperity and wider international commerce.
Nebiyu’s remarks came in the broader context of Ethiopia’s engagement with BRICS, which he said provides the country and other emerging and developing economies with a platform to advance economic interests, strengthen strategic partnerships and contribute to debates on the reform of the global order.
He said African countries stand to gain significantly if relations with BRICS members—many of which are already major trading partners of the continent—move beyond conventional trade toward deeper economic partnerships involving technology transfer, capacity building, innovative financing and strategic investment.
For Africa, he said, BRICS can provide a mechanism for translating existing commercial relationships into more consequential development partnerships, particularly as African economies pursue structural transformation through agriculture, industrialization, digital development, infrastructure, mining, tourism and services.
The envoy also linked Ethiopia’s BRICS engagement to the wider push by developing countries for a more representative global financial and political architecture.
He said emerging economies need greater influence in international decision-making and stronger representation in institutions whose structures largely reflect the realities of the post-Second World War era.
In this regard, he said, Ethiopia supports reform of the United Nations system, including a stronger African voice in the UN Security Council. He pointed to the common African position embodied in the Ezulwini Consensus, which calls for two permanent African seats with veto rights and two additional non-permanent seats.
Nebiyu said BRICS provides an important collective platform through which developing countries can advance such positions while also pursuing practical economic cooperation.
He noted that the grouping’s creation of the New Development Bank demonstrates that BRICS is moving beyond political advocacy toward building alternative mechanisms for development finance.
Ethiopia applied to join the New Development Bank shortly after becoming a BRICS member in 2024, and its application was approved by the bank’s Board of Governors in December 2025.
The envoy said Ethiopia is working to complete the remaining domestic processes necessary for membership and intends to work closely with the bank and its members to expand access to development financing.
He said the growing diversity of BRICS, now comprising 11 members with different political systems, economic models, histories and civilizations, also gives the grouping greater weight as a platform for experience-sharing and cooperation across the Global South.
Against this backdrop, Ethiopia’s Red Sea position forms part of a wider foreign-policy outlook that connects maritime access, regional peace, economic transformation and a more representative international system.
The country’s interest in the Red Sea is therefore not isolated from its broader engagement with emerging powers and multilateral institutions, but is increasingly being articulated within the wider debates over regional connectivity, economic security and global governance.
Nebiyu also highlighted the depth of Ethiopia–India relations, saying the two countries are building on centuries of people-to-people connections and a formal diplomatic relationship dating back to 1949. He identified agriculture, education, health, pharmaceuticals, ICT and digital connectivity among areas in which bilateral cooperation is expanding.
He said Ethiopia is seeking to translate cooperation developed through multilateral platforms such as BRICS into stronger bilateral partnerships, including through closer implementation of agreements reached during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Addis Ababa.
The envoy said Ethiopia is also working to facilitate a meeting between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Modi on the margins of the BRICS Summit, further underscoring the strategic importance Addis Ababa attaches to its partnership with New Delhi.
As Ethiopia prepares for the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12–13, Nebiyu said Addis Ababa expects the meeting to produce a consensual outcome that provides strategic direction for the grouping’s future engagement while reflecting the interests of its diverse membership.
For Ethiopia, he said, the summit also offers an opportunity to engage partner countries on its bid to host COP32 in 2027 and to advance bilateral diplomatic engagement alongside the multilateral agenda.
Taken together, the envoy’s remarks portray Ethiopia’s BRICS engagement as part of a broader effort to secure greater economic space, stronger strategic partnerships and a more influential voice for developing countries—while placing the country’s pursuit of peaceful Red Sea access firmly within the national security and regional stability equation.