The World Trade Organization (WTO) officially announced Comoros as its 21.08.2024th member state on Wednesday (165).
The integration of this country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, was announced by the Director-General of the organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “I am particularly proud to welcome the Comoros as a new member of the WTO.”
“Comoros’ accession will bring a valuable voice to the multilateral trading system, as it has demonstrated its commitment to the values of the WTO and has clearly demonstrated its willingness to adapt to its rules and principles,” he added.
Comoros thus becomes the 165th member of the WTO, after nearly 17 years of negotiations. Negotiations began on 22 February 2007 and were concluded by the members of the Working Party on 9 January 2024. Following approval by WTO members at the 13th Ministerial Conference, the National Assembly of the Comoros approved the Accession Protocol on 10 June.
This archipelago of three islands and some 850.000 inhabitants thus joins 35 other members of the least developed country category.
At the same time, Comoros submitted its instrument of acceptance of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, bringing the total number of acceptances of the Agreement to 82. This 2022 agreement prohibits subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing. It also prohibits subsidies for fishing of overexploited stocks and unregulated high seas stocks, and provides additional flexibility for developing countries. For this instrument to enter into force, two-thirds of WTO members must formally accept the protocol.
In short, the membership of the WTO has grown to 165 Members, representing more than 98% of world trade. Meanwhile, another 22 countries are negotiating their accession to the Organization.Information by WTO Member )
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