WTO ACCESSIONS

2022 ANNUAL REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR‑GENERAL*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.     overview 2022 and outlook 2023

1.     Overview of activities in 2022

1.       This is my second Annual Report on WTO Accessions. I have been impressed by the active interest and engagement by a number of acceding governments in 2022, despite the multiple challenges they continued to face in managing their economies which were severely hit by higher food and energy prices caused by geopolitical tensions. The resumption of face-to-face contacts as a result of the gradual reduction of pandemic-related restrictions has enabled several accession processes to advance or resume after two years of varied progress.

2.       The year started with the establishment of a new Working Party on the accession of Turkmenistan by the General Council on 23 February, bringing the total number of accessions to 24. Acceding governments were active at the 12^th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June, with 19 of them represented at a level of Minister or senior officials from capitals. Many used their presence in Geneva to resume or advance bilateral contacts with Members and the Secretariat. Useful guidance was given by Ministers on accessions in paragraph 6 of the Outcome Document:

"We underscore the importance of accessions, noting that although no new accession has taken place since July 2016, several applicants have made encouraging progress. In this regard, we remain committed to facilitate the conclusion of ongoing accessions, especially for least-developed countries fully in line with the General Council Guidelines on LDC Accessions, and to provide technical assistance, where appropriate, including in the post-accession phase."

3.       The progress made in 2022 reflects the implementation of this guidance. Two LDCs, namely, Comoros and Timor-Leste, were the most active among the on-going accessions and advanced their negotiations closer to the finish line. Building on the solid progress made in 2020-21, both LDCs held two Working Party meetings – the 7^th and 8^th meetings[1] for Comoros, and the 3^rd and 4^th meetings for Timor-Leste. Progress was registered on both the bilateral and multilateral tracks of negotiations. Comoros concluded all bilateral market access negotiations, and the Secretariat consolidated the deposited protocols into draft schedules of goods and services for verification. By January 2023, Timor-Leste signed bilateral market access protocols with four Members and is advancing negotiations with six more Members. The multilateral discussions also advanced, reaching technical maturity in many chapters of the draft Reports of the respective Working Parties, as reflected in the number of draft commitment paragraphs therein. In addition, I am encouraged by the recent indications from other LDCs, including Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, that they are ready to resume their technical work soon.

4.       Good progress was also registered among the accessions of non-LDCs. In June, Uzbekistan held the 5^th meeting of the Working Party, based on a new set of updated negotiating inputs. In July, Iraq made a submission of eight documents in preparation for the formal reactivation of the Working Party since 2008. In December, Equatorial Guinea submitted the Memorandum of its Foreign Trade Regime (MFTR), nearly 15 years after the establishment of the Working Party. Azerbaijan was also active, holding technical sessions with the Secretariat and bilateral meetings with Members in preparation for the resumption of the Working Party process since 2017. Furthermore, contacts were re-established with the Lebanese Republic and Libya to explore the resumption of their WTO-related agenda which had been disrupted for various reasons.

5.       In 2022, Working Party Chairpersons continued to play an important role in facilitating the accession processes. Working closely with the Secretariat, they set the direction of work in their respective Working Parties, with their role particularly prominent in advanced accessions or in accessions which were being re-activated. In anticipation of the resumption of activities at the level of the Working Party, eight vacancies for chairmanships were opened by the end of December for: Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Curaçao, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia and Uzbekistan. Under the delegated authority of the Chairperson of the General Council, Deputy Director-General Zhang Xiangchen has started consultations with Members on these chairmanships, while taking into account the interest of the acceding governments.