Trade Agreements - Djibouti

International conventions

Djibouti is a founding member of the Marrack Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). The country successfully presented its first Trade Policy Review in 2006, its second review in 2014 testified to the progress made in recent years.

Djibouti is bound by multilateral trade agreements of the WTO. Most recently, Djibouti ratified the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement in March 2018.

Also, Djibouti is part of international conventions:

• Signatory to the Kyoto Protocol

• Signatory to the Washington Trade Convention

international list of endangered species of fauna and flora

• Signatory to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
• Signatory to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

International economic cooperation

Djibouti has shown great interest in fostering regional economic integration.

The Republic of Djibouti is a member:

1. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and has been part of the COMESA Free Trade Area since 2000;
2. Djibouti has signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement (COMESA-EAC-SADC) since 2015;

3. Continental and African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Djibouti signed and ratified the AfCFTA Agreement in February 2019;
4. The Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD);
5. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and its headquarters is in Djibouti;

6 . AGOA: This American initiative which allows Djibouti to export to the American market without customs duties. Djibouti is indeed one of the 38 countries eligible for the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, better known by the acronym AGOA ( AfricanGrowth and OpportunityAct ).

7. Except all weapons (EU) : Djibouti benefits as an LDC from the abolition of Customs duties on products to be exchanged with the EU.

Non-tariff barriers

• At the multilateral level, Djibouti has not been involved in any WTO dispute settlements.
• At the level of the Tripartite (COMESA-EAC-SADC) a mechanism for the identification and resolution of non-tariff barriers has been put in place and the latter has not identified any non-tariff barriers for Djibouti.
• The main non-tariff barriers are linked to Djibouti's membership of the Arab League . This organization prohibits the import of goods and services of Israeli origin.

Main partners

The main economic partners of Djibouti are:

• Ethiopia
• United Arab Emirates
• Saudi Arabia,
• Somalia
• United States,
• France

The economies of Ethiopia and Djibouti are highly interdependent via the various Ports of Djibouti which constitute the main transit route for Ethiopian goods and the Djibouti Corridor constitutes one of the main gateways to the Common Market for East Africa and (COMESA) .

Contact and Source of information:

Djibouti Ministry of Commerce

Address: Ministerial City

BP: 24

Phone: +253 21 32 54 41

Fax: +253 21 35 49 09

COMESA Focal Point Department:

Directorate of Foreign Trade and Regional Integration

Address : Snake Plateau

Mohamed Dileita Mohamed Street

Loyalty building, 3rd ^floor

Phone: +253 21 35 51 77