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Essay / Bilateral trade relations between Ethiopia and China: economic capacity and trade balance
China's trade with Ethiopia, currently worth $5.4 billion per year, is expected to reach $6 billion by 2018. This essay makes the argument that although trade ties constitute an important channel of the bilateral relations that China has engaged with the outside world and in particular with Ethiopia, is uneven and unbalanced. This is also true in the Ethiopian context, especially when we look at the two countries' economic capacity, trade balance and relationship with international trade regimes. While China has been a full member of the WTO for over a decade, Ethiopia, on the other hand, has been aspiring to become a member for some time now and one of the important aspects of Ethiopia-China trade relations is therefore the strong dependence on bilateral relations/international trade regimes. Therefore, this essay aims to unravel the dynamics of Sino-Ethiopian trade relations with a focus on the two countries' economic capacity, trade balance and explore whether Ethiopia's attempts to join the WTO would lead to a more predictable commercial relationship between the two. country. In this essay, I will rely largely on analysis of relevant archival resources and literature directly related to the themes discussed in this article. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay It is unclear when China and Ethiopia first established direct or indirect contact in ancient times. The first contact between Ethiopia and China may have begun around 1000 AD, when China began importing rhino horn from Ethiopia during the Aksum dynasty. However, bilateral trade relations between China and Ethiopia started in 1956 with a limited volume, but after 2005-2006, China became Ethiopia's largest trading partner and began to take first and second place. least second place among Ethiopia's trading partners as the origin of imports and exports. Following the change in political leadership of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front in 1991, the economic policy scene in Ethiopia underwent fundamental changes. Apart from the change in trade policy, it has created a favorable ground for nations around the world to consider Ethiopia as a major trading partner. As a result, Ethiopia is expanding its bilateral trade relations with the People's Republic of China, making it one of the major bilateral trade relations. Currently, Ethiopia has very good relations with China. Recently, China has entered the field of foreign investment and Ethiopia must do everything possible to seize this new opportunity to promote investment and trade in the country. However, some scholars view China's economic growth as a model of positive development for the Third World, while others look more critically at China's behavior on the continent and see parallels with the neocolonial past. Furthermore, the Ethiopian government currently views Ethiopian-Chinese relations as contributing to the country's development. A quick glance at how Sino-Ethiopian political and economic relations have accelerated over the past two decades gives the impression that Ethiopia-China relations contribute to the country's development. the momentum will onlycontinue. Today, many argue that due to the ideological and political compatibility between the governments in power, for national and international reasons, the various economic opportunities and challenges that these relations have generated have been relegated to the background. Domestically, the tremendous economic development that China has managed to achieve in a short time, raising it to the rank of second economic power, has made it a model country for other African countries, notably Ethiopia. And externally, China's five principles of peaceful coexistence or Panchsheel1 have appeared as a blessing in disguise allowing Ethiopia to realize its political and economic aspirations without hindrance, compared to those of its Western partners who have long harvested questions considered detrimental to its political and economic interests. However, the major argument of this paper is that the challenges to bilateral trade relations arise from the real economic capabilities of the two countries, the trade balance and the relations between the two countries. with international trade regimes. This is simply clear if we consider trade as an element of economic relations in African countries, in comparison with China, which is already a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). On the other hand, Ethiopia only aspires to become a member of the WTO and therefore maintains non-reciprocal trade relations, thereby taking advantage of bilateral agreements and understandings rather than subscribing to rank-and-file trade rules and regimes. international. This non-adherence to trade rules and regimes has contributed to the current imbalance in trade between the two countries. This article attempts to bring out the disadvantages and advantages of bilateral trade relations between China and Ethiopia with reference to the economic capacity of the two countries, trade balance challenges and applicable trade regimes/rules and regulations that could not only have potential consequences. broader implications about relationships, but also help explain the nature of relationships. Focusing on the dynamic nature of trade relations between Ethiopia and China, this study aims to contribute to the debate on the extent to which ongoing trade relations will be sufficiently predictable for the mutual benefits of both countries, in the context more wide of China-Africa Relations. It was noted that the common interests of African countries, warm relations with China are "constantly" developing and the future of their economic and trade cooperation is bright. China-Africa economic exchanges will continue to develop within bilateral or multilateral frameworks, expand the scope of cooperation and explore new cooperation methods. The existence of a favorable Africa-wide framework means that Sino-Ethiopian trade has been widely seen as a showcase of these relations. with African countries. This is also important as the ever-growing trade relations between the two countries and Ethiopia appear to benefit from preferential trade relations. However, as noted above, trade relations face challenges in terms of existing differences in the trade capacity that Ethiopia, in particular, has to offer, contributing to a trade imbalance and thus calling into question issues of predictability and transparency. The growing trade relationships linked to China's current and potential impact on Ethiopia are both extensive and complex. However, such a bilateral relationship can only be successful if both parties.