The Government of Timor-Leste, through the negotiation team led by the Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs (known as MCAE), Joaquim Amaral, continues to gather all efforts to prepare the necessary technical documentation for Timor-Leste’s participation in the second High Level Negotiation meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Working Group, next July 29th.
In December 2016, the WTO established a Working Group on the accession of Timor-Leste and granted the country an observer status. On October 1st, 2020, at the First High Level Negotiation meeting with the WTO members, Timor-Leste submitted a Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime, which is currently in the discussion phase.
As part of the preparation of the technical documentation for the second meeting with WTO members, an interministerial committee meeting was organized on July 6th, attended by members of the Government that are part of the negotiation team, as well as others Government officials relevant to Timor-Leste’s accession process. This meeting took place at the City 8 conference centre, in Dili.
Following the interministerial meeting, the Chief Negotiator met, on July 15th, with the Technical Working Group for accession to the World Trade Organization, in the TradeInvest meeting room, in Dili. This meeting was attended by representatives of the ministerial lines and autonomous agencies that make up the Working Group.
During the meeting, the Working Group members reviewed the overview of the process and sectoral priorities, as well as the technical documentation and legislation required for the WTO accession process.
The World Trade Organization is an organization that deals with trade rules between nations with the aim of ensuring that commercial activities take place in a free and predictable manner.