Speaking at a meeting of the Working Party on Ethiopia’s accession to the WTO held on 22 and 23 April, Ethiopia’s Minister of Trade and Regional Integration and Chief Trade Negotiator, Kassahun Gofe, informed members of several key decisions taken by the Ethiopian Government in response to members’ requests. He reported that the negotiations have “reached a decisive juncture” and reiterated Ethiopia’s commitment to engage constructively and substantively to advance and finalize the accession process.
Led by Minister Kassahun, the high-level Ethiopian delegation consisted of senior government officials based in Geneva and Addis Ababa, including five members of Ethiopia’s National Steering Committee on WTO Accession.
Minister Kassahun updated the Working Party on recent decisions taken by the Ethiopian Government on a number of trade-related measures in response to members’ concerns, including advancing foreign exchange and customs valuation reforms, the removal of other duties and charges, elimination of WTO-inconsistent quantitative import restrictions and fees, advances on trade facilitation measures and regulation of intellectual property, among other things.
Minister Kassahun stressed that the continued reforms undertaken by the government demonstrate Ethiopia’s “unwavering commitment to opening its economy”. He said: “Ethiopia is no longer speaking in terms of a promised reform – we are implementing it. Accession is a means to an end. The rules and commitments we negotiate are tools to support the high objective of sustainable development of our people and the structural transformation of our economy.”
Ethiopia is “upholding its collective engagement and stands ready to assume the obligations under WTO membership and to accommodate members’ requests to the maximum extent consistent with our reform capacity and macroeconomic stability,” he added.
Minister Kassahun also expressed his gratitude to members for recognizing Ethiopia’s accession progress during the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) held from 26 to 30 March in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang commended Ethiopia for the “commitment, focus and sustained engagement with members” and for the progress made in both the market access and rules negotiations. Emphasizing the “well-deserved recognition of Ethiopia’s accession efforts” at MC14, he stressed that Ethiopia’s economic reform agenda is paving the way for a “transformation path towards a more open and market-oriented economy, where economic indicators already point at tangible benefits.” DDG Zhang called for parties to “continue engaging to narrow remaining gaps and identify a clear path forward.”
WTO members welcomed Ethiopia’s latest progress in the accession process and reiterated their commitment to a constructive engagement and support to advance its accession. They encouraged Ethiopia to continue implementing the reforms and provide regular updates to the Working Party.
The Working Party Chair, Rebecca Fisher-Lamb (United Kingdom), said it was a “highly productive meeting” with “quality exchanges”, bringing better understanding and appreciation of various aspects of Ethiopia’s trade policy regime and ongoing reforms. Commending Ethiopia for “championing transparency” by submitting over 400 pieces of legislation, she stressed that the government’s further clarifications on members’ requests show the positive scale at which Ethiopia is moving to make the changes required to join the Organization. Stressing that 2025 was a “transformative year in Ethiopia’s 23-year accession journey,” she urged Ethiopia and members to “keep up the pace of work, which reflects Ethiopia’s ambition in its reform-driven accession.”
Fisher-Lamb encouraged Ethiopia and WTO members to “intensify engagement” and finalize remaining bilateral market access negotiations and sign agreements as soon as possible, ideally by the summer break.
Members were invited to submit written questions and comments by 21 May as part of the multilateral negotiations. The WTO Secretariat was mandated to revise and streamline the Draft Working Party Report. Ethiopia was invited to continue updating the Working Party on its legislative developments.
The next Working Party meeting could be scheduled after the summer break, contingent upon progress made in the accession negotiations.
