From AllAfrica

Converging tides are pushing the ruling EPRDFites into making essential economic decisions at this time. These decisions relate to internal and external factors, which affect the future of our nation.

At an external level, Ethiopia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is awaiting a service offer to be extended by the government to its negotiating partners across the world. The offer, which is a follow up the offer on goods that took a relatively short time for both preparation and negotiation, is expected to highlight the fundamental policy directions that the government will take in its aspiration to integrate the nation to the global economic system.

For the EPRDFites, the service offer is very sensitive, as it will define the time and processes that they want to see the state pass through in leaving key sectors, such as telecommunications, in favour of partnerships or sole private proprietorship. Equally, the service offer will define the way the government wants international companies looking to invest in the country to operate.

But the Revolutionary Democrats seem to have learnt their lessons. As they find trade negotiations incredibly complex and tricky, they have now resorted to compiling a detailed trade policy. Their latest intervention will bring all trade related policy and strategic documents together in a way that could give trade negotiators a full compendium of instruments to work with.

There does still exist one area, however, wherein trade negotiations get tricky, which the Ethiopian business environment gives little attention to – corporate governance. Representing the systems, laws and procedures that businesses operate with, corporate governance obtains considerable attention in global investment and trade spheres. Often, negotiating countries use them as important considerations to build their deliberations on.

Read more at AllAfrica.