Laos Set to Join WTO as Working Group Approves Membership Terms
Laos is set to join the World Trade Organization after the 66-member WTO’s Laos Accession Working Party formally agreed to its terms of membership Sept. 28. The package will now go to the full WTO general council for a vote Oct. 26. If the terms of membership approved, Laos will become the a WTO member 30 days after its National Assembly ratifies the package. “Lao PDR’s WTO accession is a strong, positive and clear signal for its commitment to engaging with the global economy in the framework of the rules-based trading system,” said Chinese ambassador Yi Zhaozhun, who chairs the working group.
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Laos first applied for WTO membership in 1997. As a least-developed country (LDC), Laos’ accession package is now covered by the new guidelines approved July 25 on accelerating membership negotiations for LDCs.
The accession package is a combination of Laos itself made, with additional commitments agreed in bilateral negotiations with the nine interested members — Australia, Canada, China, the EU, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the U.S. and Ukraine — and built into the multilateral package, the WTO said. Its terms include a commitment to maximum tariffs that average 18.8% for all products (19.3% on average for agricultural products, and 18.7% for the rest), and market access commitments in 10 services sectors, covering 79 sub-sectors.