- Prime Minister Modi arrived in Ethiopia for a two-day maiden bilateral visit
- Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed Ali personally received PM Modi and escorted him to his hotel
- PM Modi and Abiy made an unscheduled visit to the Science Museum and Friendship Park
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday for a two-day visit. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali personally received PM Modi from the Addis Ababa airport and drove him to his hotel. They made an unscheduled detour at the Science Museum and Friendship Park.
"Celebrating age-old India-Ethiopia ties! Prime Minister @narendramodi arrives in Addis Ababa on his maiden bilateral visit to Ethiopia. In a special gesture, PM @AbiyAhmedAli came to personally receive him at the airport. Prime Minister was accorded a warm and colourful welcome," the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote on X.
During the visit, PM Modi is expected to hold wide-ranging discussions with his Ethiopian counterpart, covering all aspects of India-Ethiopia bilateral relations.
Celebrating age-old India-Ethiopia ties!
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) December 16, 2025
Prime Minister @narendramodi arrives in Addis Ababa on his maiden bilateral visit to Ethiopia. In a special gesture, PM @AbiyAhmedAli came personally to receive him at the airport. Prime Minister was accorded a warm and colourful… pic.twitter.com/m6fJ6gFcY7
PM Modi arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday in the second leg of his three-nation visit. This will be his first visit to the African country, and it reflects India's strengthening partnership with the continent.
A Rare Visit To Jordan
Earlier in the day, PM Modi concluded his two-day visit to Jordan to commemorate 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Although he was received by his Jordanian counterpart, Jafar Hassan, in a special gesture, Jordan's Crown Prince, Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, drove PM Modi to the country's museum in Amman.
This is the first time in 37 years that an Indian prime minister has made a bilateral visit to the country.
In pictures posted by PM Modi, he is seen in the passenger seat of the 31-year-old Crown Prince's BMW car. "On the way to the Jordan Museum with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II," he wrote on X.
On the way to The Jordan Museum with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II. pic.twitter.com/CtwcQHkHBZ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 16, 2025
PM Modi will visit Oman in the third leg of his visit.
PM Modi's Evolving 'Car Diplomacy'
The Jordan moment is part of a broader pattern often described as PM Modi's 'car diplomacy'.
The 75-year-old leader has an increasingly popular tradition of sharing informal car rides with world leaders to signal personal trust and strategic closeness.
Putin, Protocol And A Fortuner
Recently, PM Modi broke protocol to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin at Palam Airport. Putin travelled with PM Modi in the back seat of a white Toyota Fortuner to his residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
Putin was in India after four years for a two-day visit to attend the India-Russia Annual Summit.
The gesture followed a ride in 2025 where PM Modi joined Putin in his Russian-made Aurus Senat limousine during an SCO summit.
PM Modi's Fortuner represented an Indian-assembled, non-Western SUV over European luxury vehicles and sent a message of "independent foreign policy" and the "Make in India" initiative amid Western sanctions on Russia.
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