Click here to read the news item on "The Comoros reaffirms ambition to secure WTO membership by next Ministerial Conference" - 14 September 2020

Following the Working Party meeting, Comoros has continued to pursue bilateral market access negotiations with the objective to register significant progress in this area by the end of the year. In addition, the Secretariat has received assurances that Comoros is taking the necessary steps to ensure that its financial arrears are cleared. Comoros is currently under category II administrative measures.

Click here to read the news item "Timor-Leste formally kick-starts its WTO accession process" – 1 October 2020

In the lead up to the first Working Party meeting, the Secretariat organised ten virtual training sessions for Timor-Leste's negotiating team on various accession topics.  This included agriculture, trade in services, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS), import licensing and subsidies.  More training sessions are planned in the coming weeks.

Despite the challenges caused by the pandemic, the Government remains in regular contact with the Secretariat to advance its accession process. Most recently, on 28 September, the Secretariat held a virtual meeting with the negotiating team led by the Chief Negotiator Mr Mamo Mihretu, to exchange views on the state of play and next steps in the process. 
 
Ethiopia is currently finalizing its responses to Members' questions from the 4^th Working Party meeting held in January, while pursuing bilateral contacts to advance market access negotiations.  It plans to circulate a new set of negotiating inputs by December, with a view to holding the 5th Working Party Meeting during the first quarter in 2021.
 

Somalia:

Ambassador Mikael Anzén (Sweden) is expected to be confirmed as Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession of Somalia, at the meeting of the General Council on 13-14 October.

South Sudan:

On 1 October, the Chairman of the Working Party, Ambassador Qurban Haqjo (Afghanistan) held a virtual meeting with the delegation of South Sudan, and the participation of the Secretariat. The delegation included Hon. Agak Achuil Lual, First Undersecretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, senior officials from various ministries, and private sector representatives.  The newly arrived Permanent Representative of South Sudan, Ambassador Dr. Mawien Makol Ariik, also joined the meeting.

The meeting took stock of the domestic state of play, which had been stalled due to the pandemic, and discussed next steps, including the finalisation of replies to Members' questions from the 1^st Working Party meeting.

Sudan:

On 8 September, Sudan's newly appointed Permanent Representative to the WTO, Ambassador Ali Abdelrahman Mahmoud met with Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff to discuss the state of play in Sudan's accession. The need to designate a chief negotiator and a national team had been highlighted. DDG Wolff emphasized that together with the  Chairman of the Working Party, Mr. Katsuro Nagai (Japan), the Secretariat stands ready to support Sudan's efforts, both politically and technically.

Azerbaijan:
 
Azerbaijan plans to circulate updated Agriculture Supporting Tables in October. The Secretariat has been in technical exchange with Baku in updating the draft Report of the Working Party with a view to circulating to the Working Party in late November. The 15th Working Party meeting is envisaged for the first quarter of 2021.

Curaçao:

After the establishment of the Working Party for Curaçao in March 2020, Curaçao requested technical assistance to prepare a Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime. On 9 October, the Secretariat delivered the first training session on the accession process, which was attended by Mr. Caryl Monte, Chief Negotiator for the WTO Accession and officials from various government departments. Training sessions on import and export regulation, including trade facilitation, licensing, customs valuation, and import and export restrictions, are planned for October and November.

Iraq:

The Chairman of the Working Party, Ambassador Omar Hilale (Morocco) visited Geneva from 24 to 26 August to consult with the international trade community over Iraq's accession process.  This visit came as a follow up to the phone call with the newly appointed Minister of Trade Dr. Alaa Al-Jibouri in July.
 
During his visit, Ambassador Hilale met with Iraqi officials (in Geneva and Baghdad), selected WTO Members, development partners (International Trade Centre and the World Bank), and the Secretariat. In his view, there was a strong commitment from Iraq's new political leadership to the accession process, but there was also an urgent need for technical assistance. The submission of a revised MFTR and replies to questions raised by Members was a prerequisite for planning the next Working Party meeting.

Following his visit, Ambassador Hilale provided his assessment of Iraq's accession process with Minister Jubouri. He also shared it with the WTO membership at the meeting of the Informal Group on Accessions on 29 September.

Uzbekistan:

After the 4th Working Party meeting held on 7 July, Uzbekistan received more than 240 questions from four Members.  Tashkent is currently preparing replies to these questions and preparing additional negotiating inputs requested by Members. In parallel, it continues to engage in bilateral market access negotiations with a few Members.

The 5th Working Party meeting will be scheduled upon the availability of all negotiating inputs.
 
Following the Working Party meeting, Uzbekistan has requested technical assistance in a number of areas of the accession negotiations. The Secretariat organized two virtual training sessions on state-trading and on subsidies rules and notifications. A further training on intellectual property will be organized soon.

Turkmenistan:

On 4 September, the WTO Secretariat was invited to contribute to a virtual seminar on "WTO Membership as a Balance of Rights and Obligations: The Best Practices of the OSCE participating States", organised by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. The seminar was attended by key government bodies of Turkmenistan, such as the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance and Economy, as well as other financial institutions.
 
Ms. Anna Varyanik from the Accessions Division gave a presentation on the structure and functions of the WTO, the accession process, and the Secretariat's technical assistance and capacity building programs. Experts from Georgia and Montenegro shared their countries' experiences with the accession negotiations and the impact of WTO membership on their economies.

On 8 October, the Secretariat was invited to a meeting of the Government Commission on Turkmenistan's Accession to the WTO. Chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister V.Hajiev, the meeting was attended by representatives of relevant ministries and departments.  During the virtual meeting, the parties discussed the draft "Plan of Action" for Turkmenistan's observership and the draft Action Plan for the development of a Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime, which was being prepared with the assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

Third Regional Trade Group meeting of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC), 10 September

The Secretariat was invited to the CAREC Third Regional Trade Group meeting. The CAREC Program is a partnership of 11 countries and development partners, focusing on economic cooperation in the Central Asian Region, particularly in the areas of energy, trade, transport and infrastructure (https://www.carecprogram.org).  Out of the 11 CAREC countries, six joined the WTO through Article XII negotiations (China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia and Tajikistan), two are in the process (Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan) and one has Observer status in the WTO (Turkmenistan).
 
The meeting, chaired by the Acting Minister for Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan, Mr. Abdul Karim Malikyar, was attended by 89 participants, and included senior officials from each CAREC country.
 
 

The meeting focused on greater diversification and post-Covid economic recovery through enhanced services trade and e-Commerce for the CAREC countries. Ms. Maika Oshikawa, Director of the WTO Accessions Division, moderated a session on recovering trade during the pandemic and presented on the collaborative work between the CAREC and the WTO regarding accessions. While the digital economy was the main focus of the meeting, multiple participants echoed the importance of acceding to the WTO.

13^th Meeting of the Informal Group of Acceding Governments (IGAG), 21 September

The 13^th meeting of the IGAG, chaired by Belarus, was attended by 21 officials from 14 acceding governments. The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the WTO Secretariat (the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), and the Accessions Division) were invited to provide briefings to the IGAG.
 
Ms. Elisabeth Tuerk, Director of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Division of the UNECE, presented on the key work streams of the UNECE. These included trade facilitation, agricultural quality standards, the transition to a circular economy, and transparency and traceability for sustainable value chains. There were specific suggestions for potential areas of collaboration with the WTO.

Mr. Jorge Castro, Chief of the ITTC Course Design and Training Section, presented on the status of training activities and the new ways ITTC had to adapt due to COVID-19. ITTC has offered virtual and hybrid courses, including the first online Regional Trade Policy Course for the Caribbean region from 10 August to 13 November 2020 which consolidates E-Learning materials and is complemented by coaching.

Ms. Maika Oshikawa, Director of the Accessions Division, provided the state of play of current accessions and upcoming events for the rest of 2020.

The Accessions Division, jointly with the UNECE and the Permanent Missions of Belarus and Kazakhstan, hosted a panel session entitled "Harnessing Trade as a Means for Strengthening Agenda 2030/SDGs – the Case of WTO Accession" as part of Geneva Trade Week.

The panel consisted of Ambassador Zhanar Aitzhanova of Kazakhstan and former Chief Negotiator for WTO Accession; Mr. Hamdo Tinjak, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Chief Negotiator for WTO Accession; Mr. Badriddin Abidov, Deputy Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan and Chief Negotiator for WTO Accession; and Mr. Mark Linscott, former Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia and for WTO and Multilateral Affairs.
 
In a rich experience-sharing session, the panel discussed the linkages between WTO Accessions and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ambassador Aitzhanova underlined the relevance of SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure) for acceding countries, and that keeping the SDGs in mind while completing the accession process can ensure short, medium, and long term impacts on national economic development strategies.

The WTO (Accessions Division and Agriculture and Commodities Division) is organizing a virtual Specialized Training course on Agriculture in the WTO for acceding governments, in collaboration with ITC. This is the first specialised training activity focusing on the agriculture pillar of the accession negotiations. In addition to the lectures on different pillars of the Agreement on Agreement, the training will have an exchange sharing roundtable with agriculture negotiators. 

39 participants from 8 acceding governments and 9 participants from 1 observer government have started the course on 12 October.

High-level Regional Dialogue on "Arab Perspectives on WTO Accessions and the Multilateral Trading System", 8-10 November
 

The WTO, in collaboration with the Arab Monetary Fund and the Islamic Development Bank, is organizing a High-Level Regional Dialogue on WTO Accessions for the Arab region. This is the first activity focused on the Arab region, which has eight acceding governments (Algeria, Comoros, Iraq, Lebanese Republic, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Syrian Arab Republic) which are at different stages of the accession process.
 
This event will also commemorate the Sultanate of Oman's 20th anniversary of WTO membership on 9 November.
 
The High-Level Dialogue is being launched in direct response to the increasing interest from WTO Members and Arab Observers to advance the ongoing accession processes in the region. It will provide a useful platform for experience-sharing as well as awareness-raising on WTO accessions among negotiators and other key stakeholders.

A year has passed since the passing of the former Director of the Accessions Division, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe. A Nigerian national, Chiedu left us on 22 September 2019.

His energy, wit and passion continue to inspire us daily in our work.

Click here to see our tribute on Twitter