Ethiopia has just six bilateral market access negotiations left to conclude before the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat can consolidate the country’s trade commitments into draft schedules on goods and services, marking a decisive phase in its two-decade bid to join the global trade body.
During the eighth meeting of the Working Party on Ethiopia’s Accession, held in Geneva on November 9 and 10, Ethiopia’s Minister of Trade and Regional Integration and Chief Trade Negotiator, Yasmin Wohabrebbi Saeed, announced that 11 of the 17 bilateral market access negotiations initiated so far have been concluded and signed, with several of the remaining six nearing completion.
Once all 17 bilateral agreements are finalized and submitted, the WTO Secretariat will consolidate the commitments into Ethiopia’s draft Schedules on Goods and Services for technical verification by the respective negotiating members.
Leading a high-level delegation comprising senior officials from Geneva and Addis Ababa, including five members of the National Steering Committee on WTO Accession, Minister Yasmin emphasized that Ethiopia’s new government, formed in October, has made securing WTO membership as quickly as possible a top political priority.
“Being a member of the WTO family will serve as an international, legally binding anchor for our reforms, guarding against policy reversal and reinforcing predictability, transparency and institutional credibility,” Minister Yasmin told the Working Party.
She noted that integrating Africa’s fifth-largest economy, with a market of more than 130 million people, into a predictable and non-discriminatory trading system would strengthen the multilateral trading system and demonstrate that the WTO accession framework can deliver results for least developed countries.
Calling on negotiating partners to adopt a pragmatic approach to concluding the remaining six bilateral agreements, she added: “Ethiopia will do its part. We count on your support to do yours.”
To support its market access efforts, the Ethiopian delegation—which included State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Hadera Abera Admasu, National Bank Governor Eyob Tekalign Tolina, State Minister of Justice Belayihun Yirga Kifile, Ethiopian Customs Commission Commissioner Debele Kabeta Hursa, and Ethiopian Investment Holdings Deputy CEO Zeleke Temesgen Boru—briefed WTO members on extensive domestic legislative reforms.
Since the seventh Working Party meeting in April, Addis Ababa has enacted major legislative and regulatory changes covering foreign exchange and payments, customs administration, taxation, trading rights and import licensing. It has also advanced additional draft legislation covering internal and export taxes, other duties and charges, and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS).
WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang commended Ethiopia for maintaining its reform momentum despite the recent government transition, noting that technical assistance from the Secretariat, in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the International Trade Centre, would continue.
Working Party Chair Rebecca Fisher-Lamb of the United Kingdom also praised the substantive progress in bilateral negotiations and urged continued engagement between formal meetings to resolve outstanding multilateral issues.
On the multilateral track, WTO members have until December 8 to submit written questions and comments, after which the Secretariat will revise and streamline the Draft Working Party Report.
