English
WTO ACCESSIONS
2020 ANNUAL REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR‑GENERAL*
Revision
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. overview 2020 and outlook 2021. 3
II. developments IN 2020. 6
1. Accession Working Parties: An Overview of Activities. 6
2. New Observer. 6
3. Working Party Chairpersons. 6
4. Transparency in the accession process. 7
5. Technical Assistance and outreach.. 8
III. State of play in Accession Working Parties. 12
IV. Accessions of Least-Developed Countries. 15
V. "Trade for Peace through WTO Accessions" Initiative. 16
VI. WTO Accessions and Regional TRADE Integration.. 17
1. INTRODUCTION.. 17
2. participation of ACCEDING GOVERNMENTS in rtas. 18
3. PARALLEL PURSUIT of WTO ACCESSION AND REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRATION: PROCESS AND SUBSTANCE. 21
4. CONCLUSION: NAVIGATING parallel negotiating PROCESSES. 24
VII. Post-Accession.. 25
VIII. Trade and Economic Performance of Article XII Members. 26
Annex 1 – Accessions Division Work Indicators (2018-2020). 31
Annex 2 - Accessions Negotiated Pursuant to Article XII. 32
Annex 3 - WTO ACCESSIONS WORKING PARTY CHAIRPERSONS. 33
ANNEX 4 - OVERVIEW OF rtas BY ARTICLE XII MEMBERS. 34
Annex 5 – Length of Time of Completed Accessions. 36
Annex 6 – Basic Economic Profiles of Acceding GovernmentS and Article XII Members. 37
Annex 7 – Data on Trade Performance. 40
Annex 8 – accessions management. 42
* In the absence of the Director-General since September 2020, this report is presented by the Deputy Director-General in charge of Accessions. Unless otherwise specified, this Annual Report takes account of confirmed accession-related developments from 1 January 2020 to until 31 December 2020.