Timor-Leste participates in the 10th China Roundtable on Accessions to the World Trade Organization
The chief negotiator for Timor-Leste's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Joaquim Amaral, will participate in the 10th China Roundtable on WTO Accessions, which begins today, January 18th, 2022, with a high-level meeting on the Accession of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the WTO, and that runs by video conference until next January 20th.
The 10th China Roundtable will have as its main theme "10 years of capacity building through the China Programme" and as a sub-theme "Reflections on Least Developed Countries' membership".
This event is funded by the Government of China and organized by the WTO Secretariat and is part of the China Programme to support the accession of Least Developed Countries to the WTO (China Program), which turned ten years old in July 2021.
This program aims to strengthen LDC participation in the WTO and assist their governments in the WTO accession process, through five main pillars: (1) internship program; (2) annual roundtables on WTO accession; (3) increased LDC participation in WTO meetings; (4) South-South dialogue on LDCs in WTO meetings; and (5) follow-up seminars on the LDCs' trade policy revision.
During the high-level session that opens the event, a debate will take place on the main achievements of the China Program, since its inception, on the future of LDC accession and on innovative ways to address LDC challenges in the WTO accession process.
Minister Joaquim Amaral will also present the measures that the national secretariat for the WTO accession process is implementing to intensify domestic reforms necessary to comply with the WTO agreement and regulations, seeking to maximize the support made available by the observer countries.
Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang, Deputy Director-General of the WTO and Maika Oshikawa, Director of the Accession Division of the WTO Secretariat moderated the high-level session. As speakers, in addition to the chief negotiator for the accession of Timor-Leste, also participated Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO, Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce of China, Mawine G. Diggs, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Liberia and Co-coordinator of the g7+ WTO Accession Group, Mzé Abdou Mohamed Chanfiou, Minister of Economy and Industry, of the Comoros Islands, Salem Mohamed Salman, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce of Yemen and Ambassador Latsamy Keomany, Permanent Representative of Laos to the WTO.
The second day of the conference will examine the impacts and outcomes of nine least developed countries following their accession to the WTO.
On the final day of the roundtable, participants will discuss ways in which the China Program may improve service to its target beneficiaries in light of current global economic realities.
