Ethiopia on track for WTO membership

Feb 6, 2007 (NAIROBI) — Ethiopia has taken the first key steps to become the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) 151st member, but must fulfil a lengthy process before membership is completed, officials said on Tuesday.

“Ethiopia has started its accession process, the first stage was completed in December,” the WTO’s Director General Pascal Lamy told Reuters in an interview in Kenya.

He said the Horn of African country had applied for membership and tabled details of its trade regime, legislation and practices which were circulated to all WTO members. The members are expected to seek clarifications on various aspects.

The next stage is to assess the kind of commitment Ethiopia is willing to undertake in bilateral negotiations before its policies come under scrutiny from the world trade body’s secretariat on whether its trade system meets WTO standards.

“It is a rather long process,” Lamy said.

“When I was in Addis, I saw clear determination by the Prime Minister (Meles Zenawi) and the government that things should move forward, although as usual there will be difficult moments when some (members) will ask them to open their telecoms system or banking system.”

If accepted, Ethiopia, which is sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous country, would be the latest nation to join the WTO after it accepted Vietnam as its 150th member in January.

In November, economists said Ethiopia’s major issue of concern was how to overcome WTO’s rule that member states open up foreign investment in the financial sector. Ethiopia currently closes the door to foreign investment in banking.

Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa is the headquarter of the 53-member African Union.

Meles has predicted the Ethiopian economy would grow by nearly 10 percent in 2006/07, led by the farm sector.

The country is Africa’s top producer of coffee.

(Reuters)