U.S. President Barack Obama said he had discussed steps for Ethiopia to promote human rights and democracy after meeting Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Monday.
Ethiopia, sandwiched between volatile Somalia and Sudan, is seen as a key security ally for the U.S.
Obama, who addressed a joint news conference with Desalegn also said Ethiopian troops had helped shrink the space available to militants in Somalia but more had to be done.
"My message to the people of Ethiopia is: as you take steps moving your country forward the United States will be standing by you the entire way," he told a joint news conference with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Desalegn on his part, said he agreed with Obama on intensifying the campaign against terrorism in the region and would increase intelligence cooperation.
But he said he had "minor differences" with the United States on the speed of democratisation in Ethiopia.
Hailemariam said after talks with Obama that Ethiopia was committed to working toward improving human rights and governance.
Brought to its knees by "Red Terror" communist purges in the 1970s and famine in the 1980s, Ethiopia has been transformed in the last quarter of a century, becoming one of Africa's fastest-growing economies.
However, rights groups say economic achievements are at the expense of political freedoms.
Ethiopia's ruling party swept a parliamentary election in which the opposition complained of harassment. The government denied the claim.
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