Addis Ababa, September 18, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopia arrived at the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi as a relatively new member of the grouping.
It left with its economic transformation, strategic priorities and broader international ambitions firmly placed within the discussions of some of the world’s major emerging economies.
That performance prompted Chinese Embassy Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Sun Mingxi, speaking to the media in Addis Ababa on Thursday, to describe Ethiopia as the “champion” of the recent BRICS Summit.
The characterization is striking not simply because of the diplomatic endorsements Ethiopia received, but because of the breadth of what the country brought to the summit and the extent to which its national priorities intersected with the issues at the heart of the BRICS agenda.
Ethiopia’s participation in New Delhi was therefore about more than securing support for individual candidacies.
It was an opportunity to present a country undergoing economic and technological transformation, seeking deeper integration into global markets, advancing its productive capacity and positioning itself as an active contributor to the evolving architecture of the Global South.
At the center of that presentation was a changing Ethiopian economy.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed used the summit to highlight Ethiopia’s progress in food security, particularly the country’s movement from dependence on imported wheat toward domestic production and self-sufficiency.
The shift carries significance beyond agriculture: it reflects a wider effort to expand productive capacity, reduce import dependence and turn Ethiopia from a consumer of strategic commodities into an increasingly important producer and potential supplier.
The Prime Minister linked that transformation to the idea of a BRICS grain exchange, placing Ethiopia’s agricultural progress within a broader conversation about food security, trade and cooperation among emerging economies.
That same logic extends to other areas of domestic production.
Ethiopia’s push to expand pharmaceutical manufacturing and local value creation points to an economy seeking not merely to import finished goods, but to develop the capacity to produce, process and supply more of what it consumes and, increasingly, what regional and international markets require.
Digital transformation provided another important part of Ethiopia’s presentation.
The country has been building digital public infrastructure around digital identification, electronic payments and secure data exchange, while placing artificial intelligence increasingly at the center of its development agenda.
In New Delhi, Ethiopia argued that Africa should not remain merely a market for technologies developed elsewhere, but should participate in shaping artificial intelligence around its own languages, knowledge systems, communities and development needs.
That message fitted naturally into a BRICS agenda increasingly concerned with artificial intelligence, digital transformation, technological cooperation and the question of how developing economies can acquire the capabilities needed to participate in the next phase of global economic change.
Ethiopia also brought its renewable-energy potential, green-development experience and climate agenda into the summit conversation.
Its Green Legacy Initiative, expanding renewable-energy base and broader efforts around climate-resilient development provide the country with an economic and environmental proposition at a time when BRICS cooperation is increasingly addressing energy, climate finance, sustainable development and technology.
The country’s preparations to host and preside over COP32 in 2027 added an important international dimension to that agenda. The New Delhi Declaration expressed support for Ethiopia’s COP32 presidency, placing the country’s climate diplomacy within the collective BRICS framework.
Ethiopia’s resource base and industrial ambitions also fit into the wider BRICS discussion on industrialization, value addition and access to technology, capital and markets.
The country is seeking to move beyond the traditional export of raw materials by developing processing and manufacturing capacity, while using its membership in BRICS to connect domestic opportunities with larger pools of investment, technology and demand.
Connectivity was another defining thread.
Ethiopia’s aviation network, centered on Ethiopian Airlines, gives the country a distinctive position in African and international connectivity. Addis Ababa’s role as the headquarters of the African Union further reinforces its position as a diplomatic and institutional center on the continent.
But physical connectivity for Ethiopia extends beyond aviation.
Its expanding logistics infrastructure, including the recently expanded Modjo Dry Port, reflects the country’s effort to strengthen its position along regional trade corridors and reduce the costs and delays associated with moving goods.
At the broader BRICS level, discussions on trade facilitation, payments, logistics, investment and economic connectivity create a framework in which such national infrastructure ambitions can connect with wider regional and global markets.
This is also where Ethiopia’s longstanding pursuit of reliable access to the sea takes on a wider economic meaning.
At New Delhi, the issue was framed not simply as a geographical question but as an economic imperative linked to trade, market access, connectivity and the cost of doing business.
For one of Africa’s largest landlocked economies, reliable and diversified access to international trade routes is closely connected to its ambitions to expand production, attract investment and deepen commercial relations with BRICS economies and the wider world.
Ethiopia has continued to emphasize that this objective should be pursued through peaceful and negotiated arrangements.
Seen in this wider context, Ethiopia’s BRICS strategy was not simply about asking what the grouping could do for Ethiopia.
It was increasingly about demonstrating what Ethiopia itself could bring to the partnership: agricultural production, a large and growing market, renewable-energy potential, critical resources, aviation connectivity, digital capabilities and an expanding productive base.
That distinction matters.
BRICS brings together major markets, financial institutions, technological capabilities, energy producers and increasingly influential economies of the Global South.
Ethiopia’s proposition is that its own transformation can complement those strengths through investment, trade, technology transfer, industrial cooperation and stronger physical and digital connectivity.
The New Delhi Summit also gave Ethiopia concrete diplomatic dividends.
BRICS members expressed strong support for Ethiopia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, welcomed its candidacy for an additional seat on the International Civil Aviation Organization Council — where Ethiopia is the sole African candidate endorsed by the African Union for the additional seat — and expressed support for Ethiopia’s presidency of COP32.
These outcomes matter in different ways.
Support for Ethiopia’s WTO accession aligns with the country’s ambition to deepen its integration into the multilateral trading system.
Backing for its ICAO candidacy recognizes Ethiopia’s longstanding role in African and international aviation. Support for COP32, meanwhile, strengthens Ethiopia’s position as Africa prepares to host another major global climate process.
Together, they connect Ethiopia’s domestic economic transformation with three wider international arenas: global trade, international aviation governance and climate diplomacy.
The summit therefore offered Ethiopia something broader than individual endorsements.
It provided a platform from which the country could connect its domestic development agenda to the major questions confronting emerging economies — food security, industrialization, digital transformation, energy transition, climate resilience, trade, connectivity and reform of global institutions.
That broader positioning is particularly significant for a country that joined BRICS only in 2024.
In a relatively short period, Ethiopia has moved from being a new entrant to using the platform to articulate both national and African priorities.
Its interventions in New Delhi included calls for stronger BRICS-Africa cooperation, greater value creation and economic resilience, alongside proposals and positions addressing technology, food security, climate action and global governance.
The New Delhi Declaration itself reflects many of these intersections.
It contains provisions on WTO reform, agriculture, digital agriculture, industrial and technological cooperation, AI, climate action and greater representation of developing countries in global institutions.
Its support for Ethiopia’s WTO, ICAO and COP32 priorities therefore came within a much broader agenda that closely overlaps with Ethiopia’s own development and diplomatic priorities.
There was consequently a two-way calculation in New Delhi.
Ethiopia was seeking markets, investment, technology, connectivity and greater space in global institutions.
At the same time, its growing economy, strategic location, agricultural potential, renewable resources, aviation network and large domestic market offered areas in which BRICS cooperation could generate practical value.
That is what gives the “champion” description its wider context.
It was not simply about how many formal references Ethiopia secured in a declaration.
It was about how extensively the country’s development trajectory, economic interests and international ambitions intersected with the priorities being debated by the BRICS economies — and how effectively Ethiopia used its place at the table to turn those intersections into diplomatic and economic opportunities.
For Ethiopia, New Delhi was therefore less a single summit moment than a convergence point: domestic transformation meeting global economic ambition, African priorities meeting the expanding BRICS agenda, and national development goals being translated into a broader international proposition.
The immediate endorsements are now part of the record.
The larger significance will depend on what Ethiopia does with the space that New Delhi opened — turning diplomatic backing into trade opportunities, investment, technology partnerships, stronger connectivity, institutional influence and tangible economic gains.
That is ultimately where the importance of Ethiopia’s BRICS moment lies: not simply in being recognized at the summit, but in using recognition to advance the transformation already underway at home and to build stronger links between Ethiopia, Africa and the wider emerging global economy.