Addis Abeba — The Ethiopian private sector will do good to undertake preparation for the formidable challenges it is bound to face as a result of the country's entry in to the WTO, a top aid official said on Tuesday.

USAID/Ethiopia Mission Director, Glenn E. Anders said the private sector must emphasize on how to reap the benefits of competiting in the international market which he said also involves many different forms of challenges.

"The private sector needs to begin preparing for the challenges of WTQ accession and, perhaps more importantly, it needs to undertake preparations in order to reap the benefits of WTO accession," Glenn, whose three year term is to end soon, said.

Glenn delivered his final remark as a representative of America's largest aid and development agency on the occasion of Business Forum on AGOA and WTO Activities held at Sheraton Addis.

Speaking on the occasion, he said he was confident Ethiopia's accession toward WTO will certainly improve the business climate in the country.

He however urged the business community who were attending the forum "not to think of WTO accession as an end in itself, but as a means to accelerate economic development." He said the country would need to implement various sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards to meet the quality demands of export markets.

According to him, Ethiopia's accession to the WTO will provide a more predictable, secure business environment for the private sector.

He said: "WTO accession disciplines governments in their dealings with the private sector, and since WTO commitments are binding, this creates enhanced confidence for investors." WTO accession should also be seen as an impetus for reform that will complement Ethiopia's transition towards a market economy and global competitor, he added.

Highlighting the progress and challenges so far in AGOA project being carried out in the country, Glenn also said the USAID funded VEGA Ethiopia Plus Project was connecting Ethiopian companies to major trade shows in the U.S., as well as coordinating visits by U.S. buyers to Ethiopia.

He said the project has also provided targeted training on how Ethiopian companies can break into the U.S. market.

But he said there were also challenges that the project had to face such as poor market information system and qualities of export item of companies.

"No doubt, there are still challenges to be met. There is still a limited managerial, technical and production capacity of exporting companies. Quality must be improved. We need to increase the speed to market and diversify products. Finally, there is the limited access to finance and inefficient communication infrastructure in," he said.

Precise International Company, Managing Partner, Henok Assefa on his part supports Glenn claim that lack of effective communication was one of the challenges of Ethiopian export.

Despite the global financial crisis, this year's Ethiopia remittance income has not declined as compared to last year.

But it is obvious that the growing trend and speed of its growing momentum is declining.

According to him, Ethiopia's annual income it gets through its 1- 2 million Diaspora is over three billion USD.

"But information gap is one of the obstacle for exporting product than financial gap," he said.

"As over 50% of global commerce takes place through websites, almost no use of internet in Ethiopia as an export market tool," Henock said.