Timor-Leste becomes a model for Somalia in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession process
Timor-Leste was privileged to be chosen by the WTO Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, to share its experience with Somalia, through an invitation to participate in the fourth WTO seminar series, which took place on May 25th, 2021.
In this webinar, Timor-Leste, represented by Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, from the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (MCAE – Portuguese acronym), presented its perception on the current status of Timor-Leste's WTO accession process, including positive trade experiences that Timor-Leste has already overcome.
This virtual meeting, which was attended by the World Bank at the highest level, was introduced by Ambassador Zhanar Aitzhanova of Kazakhstan, who currently assumes the role of chair of the WTO services negotiation.
After the introduction, the representative of Timor-Leste shared the critical view on the trade decisions that the Government of Somalia has to take, especially on the design and operationalization of the consolidation of inter-agency coordination lines. On the same occasion, the representative of Timor-Leste also shared other experiences on consultation mechanisms that need to be implemented with external stakeholders and other relevant institutions regarding effective trade policy formulation.
Somalia started drafting its "First Working Party Meeting" plan in December 2016, but has so far not been able to carry it out. The WTO Secretariat was very interested to hear Timor-Leste's positive experiences through this round of Second Working Party Meeting.
This virtual meeting was officially closed by Mikael Anzén, Swedish Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation, who is currently Deputy Head of the WTO Mission in Geneva.
According to the information published in WTO Accessions News Letter, edition 104 - March 2021, the WTO Working Group on Timor-Leste's accession, coordinated by the Minister for the Coordination of Economic Affairs (MCAE – Portuguese acronym), Joaquim Amaral, is currently finalizing the negotiation phase on all the contributions, including the written replies to the questions that were presented by WTO members.
Currently, Timor-Leste and 24 other countries are at the stage of observer countries, following all the process related to the requirements for WTO membership, like the remaining 165 countries.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an organisation that deals with trade rules between nations with the aim of ensuring that trade activities take place in a free and predictable manner.
