WTO officially recognizes 165th member

It is the 10th least developed country (LDC) to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) through negotiations. Comoros also announced its formal acceptance of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. The 30-day countdown to Comoros becoming a WTO member was triggered when Ambassador Sultan Chouzour presented the Comoros’ instrument of acceptance of the Protocol of Accession to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the WTO General Council meeting on 22 July 2024.

WTO officially recognized its 165th member. Illustrative photo

Comoros has submitted its instrument of acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies at the same time, bringing the total number of countries accepting the Agreement to 82. Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that Comoros can use WTO accession as a vehicle for economic modernization, transformation and to complement the country’s regional integration agenda on the African continent.

The WTO membership of Comoros will add a valuable voice to the multilateral trading system as it has demonstrated its commitment to WTO values ​​and has clearly demonstrated its willingness to adapt to WTO rules and principles. The Director-General thanked WTO members for their support throughout the accession process and said the WTO will continue to work with Comoros in the post-accession period.

WTO members formally approved the Comoros' accession to the WTO in a special ceremony at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi on February 26 this year. The Comoros applied for WTO membership on February 22, 2007, and a Working Party was established in October 2007. The Working Party members concluded negotiations on January 9, 2024. Following approval by WTO members at MC13, the Comoros Parliament ratified the Accession Protocol on June 10. Twenty-two governments, including eight African countries, are still negotiating accession to the WTO. Timor-Leste's WTO membership is scheduled to take effect on August 30.

Adopted by consensus at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), held in Geneva from 12-17 June 2022, the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies sets out new, multilateral, binding rules to curb harmful subsidies, which are a major factor in the widespread depletion of fish stocks around the world. For the Agreement to enter into force, two-thirds of WTO members must formally accept the Protocol to the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies by depositing their instruments of acceptance with the WTO. The Agreement recognises the needs of developing economies and least-developed countries, and establishes a Fund to provide technical assistance and capacity building to help them implement the Agreement.

The Agreement prohibits subsidies that support illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, overfishing of fish stocks and unregulated fishing on the high seas. Members also agreed at MC12 to continue negotiations on outstanding issues, with the aim of adopting additional provisions to further strengthen the Agreement’s principles.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/wto-chinh-thuc-cong-nhan-thanh-vien-thu-165-340982.html