Swiss missionaries were active in Ethiopia from the beginning of the 19th century onwards. In 1878 Emperor Menelik II appointed Thurgau engineer Alfred Ilg as his advisor. Ilg had a considerable influence on his host country's foreign policy. He also pushed the project for a railway line between Addis Abeba and Djibouti and contributed to the development of Addis Abeba. Switzerland and Ethiopia signed a treaty of friendship and a trade treaty in 1933.

Following the Italian-Ethiopian war, the Federal Council recognised Italy's territorial rights to Ethiopia in 1936. In 1952 Switzerland and Ethiopia resumed diplomatic relations. Three years later, Switzerland opened a diplomatic mission in Addis Abeba. Switzerland provided considerable support to Ethiopia during the periods of famine that afflicted the country in the 1970s and 1980s.