Government of Timor-Leste

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the only international organisation that regulates international trade activities. This organisation was founded in 1995 and its existence is based on an agreement whose objective is to help producers of goods, exporters and importers in each of the member countries to carry out their commercial activities in accordance with international rules, guaranteeing security and transparency.

Timor-Leste's WTO accession process started on the December 7th, 2006, through the establishment of the Working Group. 14 years after the establishment of the Working Group, and having prepared the necessary documents as per WTO rules, on October 1st, 2020, Timor-Leste held the first meeting of the Working Party with WTO member countries to discuss in detail the seriousness of Timor-Leste's proposal in the WTO accession process.

The principle of opening territorial borders, giving guarantees to the "Most-Favoured-Nation Principle-MFN", of not having a discriminatory treatment between the member countries, and the commitment of transparencies in all commercial activities, give hope to the commitment of the Government of Timor-Leste to convince the WTO member countries of the strong determination of Timor-Leste in this process of accession.

This commitment materialised through the second meeting of the Working Group (SWPM), on July 29th, 2021, moderated by the Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, the Ambassador, Rui Macieira, who is also the Chair of the Timor-Leste’ Working Group.

The Timor-Leste delegation, led by the Chief Negotiator for Timor-Leste's Accession to WTO, the current Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (CAE), Joaquim Amaral, considered that this official meeting answered the questions from the member countries about the timeliness of Timor-Leste's preparation of the necessary documents, based on the agreement established between the WTO Secretariat in Geneva and the Government of Timor-Leste, together with the WTO member countries.

The second meeting of the Working Group saw positive signals from WTO member countries regarding Timor-Leste's willingness to join the WTO. The representative of the European Union, speaking on behalf of the European countries, praised and expressed his great appreciation for the effort of the Government of Timor-Leste in the preparation and elaboration of the necessary documents, according to WTO rules.

Likewise, the representative of the United States of America (U.S.), on behalf of the American continent, made a positive appraisal of this effort, supporting the will of Timor-Leste to become a member country of the WTO. From the Asian continent, the representatives of China, Indonesia and South Korea expressed their full support for the hope and commitment that Timor-Leste will become a member of WTO.

For its part, Australia underlined its commitment to continue to declare full support to Timor-Leste, in the economic sector, as it has done since the country declared its independence, to assist with WTO accession. New Zealand also expressed its utmost support for Timor-Leste's effort to join the WTO. Finally, the representative of the g7+ group also affirmed its full support to Timor-Leste's accession to the WTO.

The commitment of WTO member countries continues to remind Timor-Leste of its affirmation of the openness of national markets to international trade, with appropriate exceptions and with adequate flexibility, in order to consider assistance to sustainable development, to the eradication of poverty and to the consolidation of peace and stability.

On the other hand, WTO member countries continue to ask Timor-Leste that free access to markets be accompanied by adequate national policies, with appropriate legislation, to contribute to economic development, in accordance with the needs and aspirations of member countries and according to WTO rules.

In the opening session of the second Working Group meeting, the former President of the Republic of Timor-Leste and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, José Ramos Horta clearly stated that Timor-Leste's WTO accession was the only alternative to Timor-Leste's national priority of becoming an ASEAN member.

"WTO membership is very important to us, as is ASEAN membership. These are consensual areas, and should be a national priority for Timor-Leste".

Lastly, the WTO member countries continued to ask the Government of Timor-Leste to respond to the requests presented by the member countries, during the negotiation phase, before August 31st, 2021, an intensive bilateral negotiation phase to proactively encourage rapprochement between the member countries, to finalize the bilateral negotiation documents that are still missing.

Member countries also ask the Government of Timor-Leste to consider the legislative plan of action before moving on to the next meeting phase. Thus, member countries can learn more about Timor-Leste's commitment to these processes. On the other hand, the WTO member countries asked the Government to make available, before the next meeting, a table with the support to agriculture, as requested by member countries.

In response to the requests from the WTO member countries, the Chief Negotiator, Joaquim Amaral, promised that Timor-Leste will meet the requirements submitted by the member countries.

"This negotiation phase has shown a good start, on the commitment of the Government of Timor-Leste to become a member of the WTO. We will finalize all relevant legislative amendments as soon as possible, as requested by member countries, before entering the next phase of negotiation with WTO member countries."

The necessary documents to complete the requests from the WTO member countries, which arrived through the WTO Secretariat in Geneva, are being prepared by the Timor-Leste Working Group team, composed only by Timorese, from several state institutions and autonomous agencies, and led by the MCAE's Secretariat for Timor-Leste's Accession to the WTO.

This second meeting of the Working Group, which was prepared by the MCAE's Secretariat for Timor-Leste's Accession to the WTO, was held in the meeting room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and had a strong participation from Government members, namely: the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Eng. Joaquim Amaral, the Minister of Finance, Rui Gomes, the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, the Vice-Minister of Commerce and Industry, Domingos Lopes Antunes and the Secretary of State for Professional Training and Employment, Alarico do Rosário. Also participating in the meeting were some eminent people such as the former President of the Republic of Timor-Leste, José Ramos Horta and former Prime Minister, Estanislau da Conceição Aleixo Maria da Silva.