Ethiopia, after a long hiatus, has resumed its WTO accession negotiations with the convening of the 5th Working Party meeting held in Geneva on the 19th of March 2025. Ethiopian delegation led by Minister of Trade and Regional Integration and WTO Chief Negotiator Kassahun Gofe Balami, which also included senior government officials from the Steering Committee on Accession and experts drawn from ministries and government agencies. The meeting was called to review the elements of the Draft Working Party Report and documents submitted by Ethiopia, including the revised goods and services offer, legislative action plan, and responses to various questions received from member states pertaining to state trading, import licensing, and subsidies, among other things. In addition, Ethiopia also reported on the status of the bilateral market access negotiations that it held with eleven countries in a bid to conclude the negotiations by early March 2026.
In the opening session, the chief negotiator highlighted the various reforms undertaken by the Government of Ethiopia over the last six years to liberalize the economy and align the trade regime with WTO rules and principles. Minister Kassahun noted that the introduction of a market-based foreign exchange regime, the establishment of a capital market, and the opening up of key sectors including telecom, finance, and logistics to private investment are crucial steps taken to tap the potential of international trade as an engine of economic growth and development. He also discussed the establishment of the Ethiopian Investment Holdings as another key step taken to ensure state-owned companies operate on a commercial basis. Further underlining Ethiopia’s commitment to finalize the accession process in the next several months and join the WTO family at the 14th Ministerial Conference, scheduled to take place in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in March 2026, he called on WTO members to support Ethiopia’s effort to join the multilateral trading system.
“With its fast-growing economy and historical role in the continent, Ethiopia’s accession to the WTO will be a significant achievement for us, for Africa, and indeed for the WTO itself,” he added. Following the opening statement, Eyob Tekalign, state minister of finance, discussed the Home-Grown Economic Policy (HGER 1 and 2) by way of elaborating on the macroeconomic reform Ethiopia has been undertaking since 2018. Eyob noted that HGER 1 and 2 brought a significant achievement in reducing public debt, sustaining high economic growth, addressing fiscal gaps through increased domestic revenue collection, and expanding the economic base by focusing on investments on tourism, mining, and the digital economy, among other things. He added that the economic reform policies enabled Ethiopia to withstand economic shocks and headwinds, including the Covid-19 pandemic, major international conflicts that caused disruption of global supply chains, and a rise in prices globally.
On the other hand, in a statement delivered by 19 countries, which includes the US, EU, China, India, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the UK, Djibouti, Kenya, and Tanzania, during the opening session, members welcomed the official resumption of the negotiations in Geneva as a testament to Ethiopia’s strong commitment to re-engage in the accession process. Efforts made by the Ethiopian government over the last year to put the accession process on a solid track were also highlighted. Members further expressed their support for Ethiopia’s efforts to conclude the WTO accession and commended the work done in liberalizing the economy and the trade regime. WTO’s Deputy-Director General Xiangchen Zhang, who chaired the Working Party meeting, also appreciated Ethiopia’s ambitious accession commitment and urged the country to utilize it as an opportunity for setting the timeline for coordinating necessary policy decisions for economic reform.
Following the opening session, close to 130 questions were presented from member states seeking further clarifications and commitments to improve the trading regime based on WTO rules. The questions canvassed quite a range of areas, including the goods and tariff offers, fiscal and monetary policy, foreign exchange and investment regime, customs valuation, trade remedies, pricing policy, and rules affecting the import of goods and intellectual property rights, among others. In responding to the questions, the chief negotiator and representatives of different ministries highlighted the various reforms undertaken, including the issuance of 130 new laws to reduce WTO inconsistent trade barriers and the opening of the economy to foreign investment, as important measures that attest the current trade regime aligns with WTO rules.
In addition, while committing to making additional reform measures, Ethiopia also availed itself of privileges for developing countries, including transition periods to further streamline work processes, issue new laws, revise its investment regime, and adopt additional international agreements, particularly in the area of intellectual property laws. Several countries also emphasized the importance of providing technical assistance to Ethiopia to build national capacity in both pre and post-accession phases.
Finally, the acting chairperson invited Ethiopia and members to intensify market access negotiations, based on its revised market access offers, with a view to concluding agreements as soon as possible. Members interested in initiating market access negotiations with Ethiopia were urged to communicate their requests by the end of April. The Chairperson further indicated that the 6th working party meeting could be held come July 2025, depending on the progress of the preparatory work to meet the ambitious target Ethiopia set to conclude the negotiations by March 2025. On the other hand, on the margins of the working party meeting, the Ethiopian delegation also conducted a bilateral market access negotiation meeting with the EU and the US delegations in which agreements were reached on key issues while all parties committed to continue their active engagement with a view to further expedite the negotiation process. In a technical roundtable held on the 20th of March, several partners, including the World Bank, the Government of the UK, the International Trade Center, and others, pledged to continue to provide technical support to Ethiopia’s accession efforts.
In conclusion, Ethiopia’s 5th Working Party meeting ended with a significant achievement in moving forward the negotiations that have been dragging for over 23 years. The meeting further unequivocally affirmed that the economic reforms Ethiopia has been undertaking have addressed most of the questions that have so far hindered progress in the process. In addition, the preparations proved the strong political will of the Ethiopian Government to join the multilateral trading system, as underlined during the recent meeting of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of WTO on the margins of the recently concluded AU Summit.
In sum, the meeting has once again affirmed that, unlike the previous efforts, Ethiopia is committed to completing the entire course by the set deadline. That said, the meeting was also a testament to the conviction that, although Ethiopia has ample market access opportunities, including through Everything but Arms, COMESA, AfCFTA, and others, its decision to pursue WTO accession is geared by higher and strategic consideration of improving its international trade and its desire to take part in processes that shape the future of the global trading system. More importantly, Ethiopia’s decision to revive its WTO accession efforts, despite a rise in protectionism and the concomitant effect of weakening the multilateral trading system, shows its unwavering commitment to a rules-based WTO system.