^* Unless otherwise specified, this Annual Report takes account of confirmed accession-related developments up until 24 November 2017.

I. .... overview 2017 and outlook 2018. 3

II. ... 2017 developments. 7

1....... Accession Working Parties: An Overview of Activities. 7

2....... Working Party Chairpersons. 7

3....... Transparency in the accession process. 9

4. .... Technical Assistance and Outreach.. 9

5....... Accessions Transparency Tools Box. 13

III. . State of play in Accession Working Parties. 13

IV..... Least-Developed Countries' Accessions. 17

V. .... WTO Accession and the Business Environment. 18

1....... Introduction.. 18

2....... Reasons for Accession: Enhancing the business environment. 19

3....... business involvement in the accessions processes. 19

4....... the outcomes of accession: commitment paragraphs and the domestic regulatory framework. 20

5....... accession and beyond: Acceding Governments' and article xii Members' reflections on improvements to the business environment. 24

6....... empirical correlation between the business environment and Wto accession: the World Bank Doing-Business Indicators. 28

7....... Conclusion.. 30

VI..... WTO Post-Accession Support. 30

VIi... Trade and Economic Performance of Article XII Members. 31

Annex 1 – Accessions Division Work Indicators for calendar year 2017. 35

Annex 2 – Accessions Negotiated Pursuant to Article XII. 36

Annex 3 - WTO ACCESSIONS WORKING PARTY (WP) CHAIRPERSONS. 37

Annex 4 – Length of Time of Completed Accessions. 38

Annex 5 – Basic Economic Profiles of Article XII Members and Acceding GovernmentS  39

Annex 6 – Data on Trade Performance. 42

Annex 7 – WORLD BANK DISTANCE-TO-FRONTIER data ANALYSIS. 43

Annex 8 – accessions management. 49