The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs traces the relationship between the two countries to the 1950s when Finnish missionaries first came to Ethiopia.

[1] Ethiopia is one of Finland's long-term partners in economic development and in the water and education sectors.

[3] On 29 April 2009, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development announced that the Finnish government had made a grant of 11.4 million Euros to enable the Benishangul-Gumuz Region upgrade its capacity of planning and managing its rural water supply and sanitation program to achieve universal access for all Ethiopians.

[4] On 28 July 2009, the Finnish Ambassador, Kirsti Aarnio, praised Ethiopia's effort to pull itself out of poverty by achieving successive economic growth.

She also stated that ample opportunities existed where the two sides can boost cooperation in the areas of environment, information technology, telecommunication services and energy.