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Ph:DR: Comoros – Status of accession to the WTO
On January 9, 2024, Members of the WTO (World Trade Organization)
Ph:DR: The President of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani
participating in the negotiations for the accession of the Comoros have agreed by consensus, ad referendum, the modalities for the country’s accession to the Organization, which should allow this least developed country (LDC) to become a Member of the WTO . Following the conclusion of the mandate of the Working Group, the package of texts relating to the accession of the Comoros will be presented to Ministers for formal decision at the Thirteenth Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the WTO, which will be held in Abu Dhabi from February 26 to 29.
According to a WTO press release, the Director-General of the WTO, Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, congratulated the Comoros for successfully completing the technical work towards membership. “It has been 17 years since you made your initial application for WTO membership, and membership is now firmly within your reach. I would like to pay tribute to President Azali Assoumani and the country’s political leaders who have provided invaluable support to the accession effort since the first meeting of the working group in 2016. I would also like to commend the enormous work carried out by the negotiators and technical experts of the country » she declared.
DG Okonjo-Iweala stressed the importance of LDC membership in the Organization, especially since more than eight years have passed since the conclusion of the mandate of a working group (the accession of Afghanistan) – the longest gap in the history of the WTO. “ I hope that in the future we can do better and move faster, because 22 countries currently want to join the WTO ».
The Director-General stressed that the Comoros contributes a lot to the WTO. In addition to being a member of the African Union, the Indian Ocean state is a member of La Francophonie and the Arab League. Regarding the latter, she stressed the importance for WTO members to welcome the Comoros as a new member at the next ministerial conference to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
As a future member of the WTO, Comoros will need to focus on how best to reap the benefits of membership. DG Elle is therefore committed to supporting the WTO secretariat in the critical phase following accession and beyond. “Pursuing national interests and objectives at the WTO is not an easy task. Accession negotiators often joke that accession negotiations are difficult, but accession can be even more difficult. she pointed out.
“Making our membership of the WTO a new and powerful lever for development…”
“Our accession to the WTO should not be seen as an end in itself, but rather as the starting point for another, even more ambitious project. That of modernizing the financial management of our public administration to adapt it to the commitments made when we joined the WTO and make it an effective development tool” declared for his part, Kamaldini Souef, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, and head of the Comoros delegation, continuing:
“In this context, we are seeking more than ever the technical and financial support of all our bilateral and multilateral partners to make our accession to the WTO a new and powerful lever for development with the objective of making the Comoros an emerging country. by 2030″, he added.
The Chairman of the Working Group, Ambassador Omar Zniber of Morocco, conveyed to the Comoros the congratulations of all the members. After the conclusion of the 10th meeting of the Working Group, he indicated that he would inform the President of the General Council, Ambassador Athaliah Molokomme of Botswana, that the set of texts relating to the accession of the Comoros is ready to be presented to ministers at the 13th Ministerial Conference.
Ambassador Zniber paid tribute to the Comoros delegation and the team of negotiators who worked for years to make possible the strategic vision of the country’s membership in the WTO. “I can only admire the way in which the Comoros, despite their relatively limited economic and administrative resources, have found the means to successfully complete the long and complex process of accession to the WTO, which began in 2008”did he declare.
Indeed, MC13 will be an opportunity for the Comoros to present their post-accession strategy on the implementation of their commitments and obligations in order to participate in the daily work of the WTO. Comoros can start preparing for the 13th Ministerial Conference, 2024 edition in order to be able to take full advantage of the benefits of WTO membership. “Comoros will need as much technical assistance and capacity building during the post-accession period as during the accession period” advises Ambassador Zniber.
Members congratulated Comoros and underlined the importance of integrating an additional LDC into the multilateral trading system, eight years after the last accessions to the WTO. They also noted that the diligent and systematic work carried out by the Comoros, as well as the political will demonstrated by the Moroni authorities, show how the difficult process of accession to the WTO can be successfully completed.
Discovering the Comoros
Comoros is a less developed country in the Indian Ocean, with a population of around 820,000. The government of the Union of Comoros applied for membership in the WTO in February 2007 and the working group was created in October 2007. In October 2013, the country submitted its Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime . The first meeting of the working group on the accession of the Union of the Comoros was held on December 2, 2016.
L’OMC…
The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the general rules governing trade between countries. Its main function is to promote as much as possible the smooth running, predictability and freedom of trade.
