It is generally argued that trade encourages resource allocation based on comparativernadvantage, acts as an engine of economic growth and provides welfare gains. Though.rneconomic competency and market access have determining roles, these benefits arernexpected to be earned if the nation is engaged in a multilateral trading arrangement. Tornthese respect, developments in global trade arrangemel1ls and regional integral ionrninitiatives are dramatically changing the trading environment of the world in general andrndeveloping countries' trade policy in particular. Recent trends indicated that "dominorneffect ,, 0 has become a persistent phenomenon. however. each and every nation should berncareful into which pool it falls. in this respect Ethiopia is faced with different choices of'rnwhich the prominent integrations are the World Trade Organization (WTO) and CommonrnMarket. for East and Southern Africa (COMESA). Even through both these have theirrnpros and cons, it is economically viable to establish and maintain lucrative trade tie withrnat least one. Up until now, without full involvement in any of the two the Ethiopianrneconomy has witnessed an ever- increasing trade deficit with both arrangements. Thisrnphenomenon can be mitigated through fair trade agreements and o/course by internallyrntransforming the economy and its ,facilitating agents. /n addressing trade negotiations, itrnis advisable for the country to get involved with one efficient-integration than beingrninactive member in several. Accordingly, this paper has reviewed problems andrnprospects joining both economic arrangements and made empirical analysis usingrnJohansen estimation Procedure for estimating elasticity of trading with the groups.rnConsequently, it has reached to a finding that it is beneficial for Ethiopia 10 .firstrnintegrate its economy with regional integration. i.e. COMESA and then accede with WTOrnthan integrating the other way round