Ethiopia Resumes WTO Membership Negotiations

Addis Ababa January 29/ 2020 (ENA) Ethiopia has resumed the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession process after eight years.

Senior Advisor and Chief Trade Negotiator at Office of the prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mamo Mihretu, met with WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland.

The two sides held talks on ways to accelerate the accession process in Ethiopia’s long-established move to join the WTO.

The Adviser extends his gratitude the Director-General in the support for Ethiopia’s accession process to the WTO.

Ethiopia has been in the process of accession to the WTO since 2003.

The WTO accession process has been an integral part of the sweeping economic reforms which the Government of Ethiopia has been pursuing from the highest-political levels.

It is to be recalled that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met with WTO Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, on the margins of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on 23 January 2019.

During the meeting, Abiy expressed his commitment to regional and global integration through WTO accession and participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Following their talks, last June Prime Minister Abiy set up a 10-member national committee to resume the negotiation.

Chaired by Mamo, members of the committee were drawn from PM office, Foreign Affairs, Revenues, Finance as well as Trade and Industry Ministries, representatives from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and the National Planning and Development Commission were incorporated in the negotiations.