. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/100 
2 December 2009 
 (09-6262) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   English 
 
  
ETHIOPIA 
 
Statement by Mr. Geremew Ayalew
 
Director, Trade Relations and Negotiation  
Ministry of Trade and Industry  
 
(Speaking as an Observer) 
  
 It is an honour for me to be here today at the 7
th Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference 
to make remarks on such an important occasion.    On behalf of the Government and people of th e Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, let 
me first thank the Secretariat and all other de velopment partners for the sustained support and 
encouragement of our accession negotiation.  I should also mention my thanks to all WTO members 
for their positive support reflected right from the very first Working Party Meeting.   We held the first Working Party meeting in May 2008 which gave us an excellent opportunity 
to clearly state our economic policies and measures taken over the course of several years to improve 
the business environment. Following this productive me eting, we have taken several crucial steps 
towards fulfilling membership requirements. Accord ingly, we have submitted answers to the second 
round of questions that were raised by some Me mber States and other necessary technical documents 
to the WTO. We are currently working relentless ly in the preparation of additional technical 
documents yet to be submitted to the WTO and pr eparing for the second Working Party meeting that 
we expect to hold shortly. 
 
 In general, I must emphasize that we have made a steady progress in our accession process and let me reiterate again that my government is committed to pursue membersh ip on terms consistent 
with our development objectives and our ability to implement WTO obligations. I believe Ethiopia’s 
desire to join the WTO speaks fo r the success and strength of the mu ltilateral trading system and its 
continued relevance today. 
  The current global economic crisis is another re minder that trade and financial integration in 
its own alone will not guarantee automatic benefits of the global system. It requires putting and sequencing the right policies and regulatory mechanisms  in place. We believe that for trade policies to 
support the development agenda of acceding coun tries need enhanced support and flexibilities, 
including transitional periods sufficient enough to al low them build the institutional capacity and put 
in place necessary regulatory mechanisms.   The accession process today is extremely onerous , complex and costly. My country has been 
primarily concerned in putting and sequencing the ri ght policies and regulatory mechanisms and build 
institutional capacities to properly carry on the accessi on process. In this regard, we believe that the 
current accession process needs to be further simplified. WT/MIN(09)/ST/100 
Page 2  
 
   Finally, I would like to call for this august conference to reform the accession process and 
fully implement the 2009 Phnom Pen Round Table Stat ement on LDCs accession; the Dar es Salaam 
LDCs Ministerial Declaration and ACP States Ministerial Declaration of 2009. I also would like to call up on all WTO members not to exert undue pressure on acceding countries, especially LDCs, and SVEs (Small and Vulnerable Economies), and not  to require making concessions and commitments 
that could possibly undercut their ability to real ize their development objectives. I also request 
member states to continue and intensify the pr ovision of technical assistance to support capacity 
building of acceding states at all stages of the accession process.  
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