Ethiopia's WTO Accession Enters Final Stretch After Two Decades Drift

Oct 5 , 2025. By SURAFEL MULUGETA ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

After more than 20 years, Ethiopia’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ambitions are gathering unprecedented speed. On September 26, in Geneva, an 18-member delegation led by Chief Trade Negotiator, Kassahun Gofe, also minister of Trade & Regional Integration, joined the sixth WTO Working Party meeting, six months after the previous session. Such rapid succession is rarely seen in the WTO accession process.

After more than two decades of protracted deliberations and political hesitation, Ethiopia's ambition to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has reached a decisive and accelerated phase. A sixth Working Party meeting convened in Geneva on September 26, 2025, signalled a rare motion in pace, marking the second session within six months, a tempo rare in the WTO accession process.

Led by Kassahun Gofe, minister of Trade & Regional Integration, Ethiopia’s 18-member delegation was in Geneva with a renewed political mandate and a sharpened economic rationale of clinching WTO membership ahead of the Ministerial Conference scheduled for March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The negotiating team included Eyob Tekalegn, governor of the Central Bank; Zeleke Temesgen (PhD), commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission; and, Debela Kabeta, commissioner of Customs.

The country’s long-awaited membership now appears not just plausible, but politically prioritised.

"Our accession has entered a decisive phase," declared Kassahun. "The moment is a turning point."

Since applying for WTO membership in 2003, Ethiopia has made halting progress through negotiations, mired in ideological ambivalence and structural rigidities. Now, however, a national technical team spanning 35 federal agencies is actively engaged, coordinated by a WTO Committee under the Trade Ministry. In the run-up to the latest session, Ethiopia convened a local WTO Forum and conducted bilateral negotiations with 14 of the 18 members seeking market access.

The team submitted 50 new legislative documents, bringing the total to 398, and addressed more than 200 technical queries from member states, following 290 addressed at previous sessions. Ethiopia’s Elements of a Draft Working Party Report was also formally upgraded to a full draft, a milestone that typically takes years to achieve in other accession cases. WTO officials and trade diplomats praised the momentum as reflective of genuine reform.

According to Deputy Director-General, Xiangchen Zhang, Ethiopia’s trajectory evidences a shift “from a state-led economy towards one driven by the private sector.”

Rebecca Fisher Lamb, chairwoman of the Working Party and a UK trade representative, applauded the progress but warned of tight timelines.

“The time before the Ministerial Conference is short,” she said, urging member states to sustain technical engagement.

The broader macroeconomic backdrop has done much to reframe the rationale for WTO accession. Ethiopia’s Home Grown Economic Reform Agenda, including the liberalisation of financial services, revised investment codes, and adjustments to the forex market, has gained new momentum since the fifth Working Party meeting in March 2025. Contentious reforms, such as opening banking to foreign investors and reducing capital controls, have earned guarded support from the U.S., U.K., and Canada, countries previously sceptical of Ethiopia’s protectionist orientation.

Ethiopia’s trade negotiators argue that the WTO accession is not the driver of reform, but a mechanism to anchor it.

“We're not changing policy simply for WTO accession,” Kassahun insisted. “We are focused on economic growth and protecting national interests.”

The Trade Minister has pledged to maintain existing tariff levels, assuaging fears among domestic industries and small-scale producers. According to Kassahun, predictable trade rules under WTO will help “expand market opportunities without harming emerging businesses.”

Of the 22 countries that initially demanded market access concessions, four have withdrawn, while Ethiopia's trade delegates have concluded negotiations with Russia, China, Turkey, Argentina, and Thailand. Agreements with Switzerland, Japan, and Russia are reportedly nearing completion, with six more expected to be finalised by the end of November. Technical talks with a dozen countries are ongoing, some nearing finalisation.

Momentum is also building on the multilateral front. At the latest Geneva session, over 30 countries expressed support for Ethiopia’s accession, a figure double that of the previous meeting, and the World Bank echoed its encouragement. Nonetheless, some key players remain slow to respond, and technical standard negotiations remain unresolved, uncovering the fragility of the timetable.

The federal government has made clear that WTO membership is expected to entrench structural reforms, enhance predictability for foreign investors, and lower the cost of doing business. Citing global evidence, Ethiopian officials foresee post-accession GDP growth observed in countries such as Vietnam and Uzbekistan, with estimates ranging from 10pc to 25pc in the first decade after accession.

Mered Fikreyohannes, an investment advisor at Pragma Investment Advisory, framed the move as both necessary and manageable. He noted that around 28pc of federal revenues come from local firms, and that “tariff adjustments will not threaten this.”

“Membership must protect national interests while opening up opportunities for local companies,” Mered told Fortune. “Small and medium-sized businesses should face no new burdens.”

The seventh Working Party meeting is scheduled for January 2026, two months before the decisive WTO Ministerial Conference. WTO members have been asked to submit any further questions by October 24, marking a narrow window for final negotiation rounds.

PUBLISHED ON Oct 05,2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1327]