Chaired by the Ambassador of Morocco, Omar Zniber, the Working Party welcomed a high-level delegation led by Mr Ahmed Ali Bazi, Minister of Economy, Industry, Investment, and WTO chief negotiator. The delegation included senior capital-based officials representing customs and the Ministry of Economy as well as the Vice-President of the National Assembly, Mr Ahamada Baco, and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr Chamsoudine Ahmed.

Ambassador Zniber underlined that since the last Working Party meeting, held in January this year, Comoros has made significant strides towards filling the remaining gaps in the WTO accession process. He noted that “a key milestone” was reached in May when Comoros' draft Goods and Services Schedules were verified by WTO members who had negotiated market access agreements bilaterally with Comoros.

“This is a very significant development as two of the three key elements constituting Comoros' draft Accession Package are now ready for consideration by the Working Party,” said the Chair.

The third element of the Accession Package is the draft Report of the Working Party, the final document to be passed on to the General Council for approval, covering the applicant country’s commitments on opening its markets and on applying WTO rules.

Ambassador Zniber noted that “work has advanced in a very positive direction over the past few months and the document has now clearly reached an advanced stage of technically maturity.” This progress was evident, he added, in the number of unbracketed paragraphs, indicating firm commitments, which are now included in the draft Report and in the progress made towards the elaboration of issue-specific action plans, which will be integrated into the final version of the Report.

Ambassador Zniber thanked Comoros for the decisive steps taken domestically to address the concerns raised by members and acknowledged members' determination to support Comoros in meeting its goals by dedicating additional resources to this accession dossier. Noting that “Comoros' willingness to adopt the necessary domestic legislative reforms to bring its foreign trade regime into compliance with WTO rules has been a cornerstone in this accession”, the Chair expressed hope that "the authorities in Moroni will see this effort through to the end".

Minister Bazi updated members on the recent legislative reforms undertaken by his country to bring its economic regime into conformity with WTO rules, including in the areas of copyright and customs procedures.

Members expressed their full support to help Comoros get closer to WTO accession and commended the work done by the authorities to reach that goal. Many members underscored the importance of accessions, noting that several applicants had made encouraging progress, and voiced their commitment to provide technical assistance, including in the post-accession phase.

WTO Deputy Director-General Zhang Xiangchen noted that WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has made it a priority for her and the Secretariat to deliver on the accession of least developed countries (LDCs) by MC13. DDG Zhang underlined that DG Okonjo-Iweala has regularly been in touch with the President of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, to discuss the remaining steps needed to conclude the accession negotiations before MC13.

In addition, he said, the WTO Secretariat has stepped up its role in mobilizing and coordinating technical assistance to Comoros, including by organising the 2nd meeting of the Coordination Group on Accession-related Technical Assistance in April this year. The Secretariat will also continue supporting Comoros in the preparation of its Post-Accession Implementation Strategy in the coming months.

DDG Zhang stressed that “we are now truly in the endgame,” and expressed the hope that “we will soon be able to welcome Comoros in the WTO community.”

Next steps

Ambassador Zniber said he hoped to hold the final meeting of the Working Party as soon as possible, and ideally before the end of the year. “We are now very close to the end of this long, complex, and sometimes arduous process, which began in 2007 — it will soon be 17 years ago,” he said. Noting that MC13 would be the perfect platform to celebrate Comoros' accession, he reminded members that there was not much time to wrap up the remaining work, and that it would be crucial to register significant progress before the end of October.

“It is time for the WTO to open its doors again to countries asking to accede and to send a clear message to the world that it is a vibrant and responsive organization, which takes into account countries' concerns, particularly when it comes to LDCs,” he concluded.