Putin, Jordan Crown Prince and Ethiopian PM: The Case of PM Modi’s ‘Car Diplomacy’

During his visit to Ethiopia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally received by Ethiopian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Abiy Ahmed at the Addis Ababa airport, underscoring a gesture of warmth and respect between the two leaders.

In a notable departure from protocol, Abiy Ahmed also drove PM Modi to his hotel. According to news agency PTI, the two leaders made an unscheduled stop at the Science Museum and Friendship Park before reaching the hotel.

The gesture comes a day after PM Modi was similarly driven by Jordan’s Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, further fuelling discussion around a new trend dubbed ‘car diplomacy’ — a form of personal, informal engagement between world leaders.

The curious case of ‘car diplomacy’

The trend is said to have begun earlier this year when PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled together by car for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.

Months later, PM Modi again broke protocol by personally receiving President Putin at Palam Airport during his two-day visit to India. Putin was then driven with the prime minister in the back seat of a white Toyota Fortuner to the prime minister’s residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg for a private dinner.

A similar moment was seen during PM Modi’s rare visit to Jordan, where Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II drove him to the Jordan Museum in Amman. Photos shared by the prime minister on social media platform X showed the 75-year-old PM seated in the passenger seat of the 31-year-old prince’s BMW.

The latest instance of ‘car diplomacy’ during PM Modi’s Ethiopia visit highlights a growing emphasis on personal gestures in India’s diplomatic engagements, reflecting warmth, trust and evolving ties with foreign leaders.