Ethiopia’s WTO accession process enters decisive phase

The high-level Ethiopian delegation in Geneva, led by Minister Kassahun, consisted of 18 senior government officials from the Steering Committee on Accession and experts from ministries and government agencies. Other government officials participated from Addis Ababa.

Minister Kassahun stressed Ethiopia's "readiness to join the WTO at MC14 in Yaoundé, Cameroon." He highlighted several key reforms undertaken since the 5th meeting of the Working Party in March as part of the country's Home-Grown Economic Reform Agenda. This  includes further liberalization of banking and foreign exchange market (forex) sectors, easing requirements for foreign investors and increasing the role of the private sector in the economy.

Minister Kassahun reported progress in the negotiations with WTO members, highlighting a commitment "to join the WTO on substantively meaningful terms." Since March, Ethiopia has responded to over 200 questions from members and submitted over 50 pieces of legislation. It has also tabled a total of 33 draft commitments for consideration by members. Ethiopia has concluded the technical parts of bilateral market access negotiations with six members. Discussions are ongoing with 12 more, with some at an advanced stage.

"Ethiopia's WTO membership would bring a market of 120 million people, create new opportunities for global trade and investment, and reinforce the credibility of the WTO accession process," Minister Kassahun said. "It would demonstrate that the system works for developing and least-developed countries, while anchoring Ethiopia’s Home-Grown Economic Reform Agenda in a rules-based multilateral system, ensuring predictability, transparency and fairness." His statement can be found here.

Lauding Ethiopia's "commitment and proactive engagement, which is now bearing fruits", WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang underscored its "economic reform and transformation journey, moving from a state-led economy towards one driven by the private sector." He added: "Reforms can bring huge benefits and can present a lot of challenges. WTO accession can create demanding external pressure, which is an effective driver of a much-needed economic transformation."

WTO members commended Ethiopia's efforts, encouraging further domestic reforms and regular updates on developments. They thanked Ethiopia for the opportunity to review the progress in reforms at a dedicated side-event held prior to the meeting .

Many expressed the hope that Ethiopia could join the WTO as soon as possible, highlighting that WTO membership would support the country's integration into the multilateral trading system and further its goals of sustainable economic development. Some also noted the significant amount of work remaining in both bilateral and multilateral negotiations, highlighting that progress should be measured in substance rather than timeline.

Noting that the "productive discussions" at the meeting gave "greater clarity on what is expected from Ethiopia going forward", the Working Party Chair, Rebecca Fisher-Lamb (United Kingdom), praised Ethiopia for its "opening up efforts" and welcomed the "interest by all members to get into the detail." She encouraged all parties to "intensify and accelerate engagement." While acknowledging that "the time left between now until MC14 is very tight", she underlined the need to "sustain the technical momentum built so far" and to focus on "resolving the outstanding issues and registering concrete progress until the next meeting."

Next steps

Ethiopia and WTO members were encouraged to finalize remaining bilateral market access negotiations and sign agreements as soon as possible, ideally before end-November.

Members were invited to submit written questions and comments by 24 October as part of the multilateral negotiations. The WTO Secretariat was mandated to "upgrade" the Elements of a Draft Working Party Report to a Draft Report. Ethiopia was invited to continue updating the Working Party on its legislative progress.

The next Working Party meeting could be scheduled for early 2026, based on the progress made in the accession negotiations. Information about Ethiopia's accession is available here.

Information about WTO accessions can be found here.

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