…as applications open for services aspect of e-commerce
Comoros joined the World Trade Organisation on 21 August as its 165th member, after 17 years of negotiating its accession terms with WTO members. It is the 10th least-developed country (LDC) to accede to the WTO through negotiations. Comoros also announced its formal acceptance of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
The 30-day countdown to Comoros’s WTO membership was activated when Ambassador Sultan Chouzour handed Comoros’s instrument of acceptance of the Protocol of Accession to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at a meeting of the General Council on 22 July 2024.
Comoros submitted its instrument of acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies at the same time, bringing the total number of acceptances of the Agreement to 82.
“I am particularly proud to welcome Comoros as the newest member of the WTO. Comoros can use WTO accession as a vehicle for modernization, economic transformation and a complement to the country’s regional integration agenda on the African continent,” Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. “Comoros’s membership will add a valuable voice to the multilateral trading system as it has shown commitment to the values of the WTO and has clearly demonstrated willingness to adapt to its rules and principles.”
The Director-General thanked WTO members for their support throughout the accession process, and said that “they will continue to accompany Comoros in the post-accession phase.”
WTO members officially approved the WTO accession of Comoros during a special ceremony at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi on 26 February.
Comoros applied for WTO membership on 22 February 2007 and the Working Party was established in October 2007. Members of the Working Party concluded the negotiations on 9 January 2024. Following approval by WTO members at MC13, Comoros’s National Assembly approved the Protocol of Accession on 10 June.
Twenty-two governments, including eight African countries, are still negotiating their WTO accession. Timor-Leste’s WTO membership is due to become effective on 30 August.
Meanwhile, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has announced that applications are now open for the WTO course on services aspects of e-commerce.
It adds that government officials from WTO members and observers who are eligible to benefit from technical assistance activities are invited to submit applications to take part in the 2024 Thematic Course on Services Aspects of Electronic Commerce, which will be held from 12 to 15 November at the WTO. Officials can submit applications until 30 August.
The course will familiarize participants with the links between e-commerce, services trade and disciplines of the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services, with a particular focus on specific services sectors. The moratorium on e-commerce, as well as other e-commerce discussions at the WTO, will feature in the course programme.
The objective of the course is to increase participants’ autonomy when they develop services trade policies and seek to mainstream e-commerce into their national trade policy plans. Experts from the WTO Secretariat will contribute to the programme, which will be held in English.
The workshop is aimed at government officials from WTO members and observers eligible to benefit from WTO training activities, who have direct policy responsibility for, or a demonstrated background in and an advanced understanding of, trade in services and e-commerce issues.
Candidates should have completed a previous WTO training activity (E-Learning or face-to-face course) and be proficient in English.
