ApexBrasil Opens First Africa Office in Ethiopia

EBR_News Sep 2, 2026

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) inaugurated its first permanent office in Africa in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, positioning Ethiopia as Brazil’s institutional entry point into the continent after years of declining trade between the two sides. The ceremony was held at the Skylight Hotel and brought together senior Ethiopian and Brazilian officials, business representatives and diplomatic missions.

Jandyr Ferreira dos Santos, Brazil’s ambassador to Ethiopia, said Brazil had also expanded its institutional presence in Addis Ababa in recent years, establishing an agricultural attaché office and a federal police attaché alongside the new ApexBrasil office, and that Brazil had backed Ethiopia’s accession process to the World Trade Organization.

The Addis Ababa opening capped a weeklong Southern Africa business mission that began on 26 August 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and continued through Lusaka, Zambia, and Maputo, Mozambique, where Brazil served as Guest Country of Honour at the Maputo International Fair, according to Brasil 247. The Ethiopia leg was the mission’s final and only stop outside Southern Africa, and the one where ApexBrasil formally opened its new office. 

The office follows a proposal from the Ethiopian Investment Commission after ApexBrasil led its largest ever business mission to Ethiopia in February 2026, according to Meles Alem, director general for European and American affairs at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That mission brought more than 70 Brazilian delegates to Addis Ababa, produced over 300 business-to-business meetings, and resulted in memoranda of understanding, including one between Ethiopia’s Kerchanshe Group and Brazil’s agricultural research corporation, Embrapa, Meles said.

The inauguration builds on recent diplomatic momentum. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil visited Ethiopia in 2024, while Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) visited Brazil the following year, with the two leaders agreeing to deepen economic ties at the Rio Summit in July 2025, Meles said. Ethiopia and Brazil are marking 75 years of diplomatic relations this year, and both countries are members of the BRICS bloc.

Laudemir Müller, president of ApexBrasil, said Brazil’s trade with Africa had grown from around five billion dollars in 2002 to 28 billion dollars in 2013, before falling to a low of 11.5 billion dollars in 2020. Trade has since recovered to 25 billion dollars in 2025, Müller said, adding that Ethiopia was selected for the agency’s first African office partly because its economy is projected to grow nine percent this year and its imports already exceed 23 billion dollars.

Ethiopian Investment Commissioner Zeleke Temesgen (PhD) said the office arrives as Ethiopia carries out reforms under its Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda, including a market-determined exchange rate, a modernised monetary framework and steps to strengthen financial sector resilience. 

Zeleke said these measures had contributed to declining inflation, expanding foreign exchange availability and rising investor confidence, and noted Ethiopia’s recent accession to the New Development Bank as a further source of financing for large scale investment.

Meles said Ethiopia’s position as a diplomatic and aviation hub, supported by Ethiopian Airlines’ daily direct flight to São Paulo, gave Brazilian companies unmatched access to the continent, while the country’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area opens a market of over 1.4 billion consumers. 

The office is expected to focus on sectors including agriculture, agroprocessing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, mining and renewable energy, according to the Ethiopian Investment Commission.

Müller said the new office would allow ApexBrasil to pursue opportunities in Ethiopia and the wider East African market on a continuous basis rather than through periodic missions, describing permanence as a way to carry relationships and projects through from start to finish.

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