On 11 September, at its 5th Ministerial Conference in Cancún, the World Trade Organization (WTO) approved the accession of Cambodia and Nepal, the first least-developed countries (LDCs) to join the organization since its creation in 1995. These two countries are among the nine (1), which have benefited over the last few years from UNCTAD´s assistance to LDCs in their accession negotiations with WTO.
In keeping with its intergovernmental mandate, UNCTAD is assisting developing countries in their accession process to the WTO as part of their integration into the world economy and the international trading system. For a number of years, UNCTAD has been advocating clear and objective rules and disciplines for accession procedures, which tend to be too costly for LDCs. These concerns were reflected in a set of six commitments adopted by the international community during the Third UN Conference on LDCs in Brussels in May 2001. On that basis, WTO members set LDC accession as a priority policy issue in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, and the WTO General Council adopted the decision on LDC accession in December 2002.
UNCTAD´s technical cooperation activities assists the participation of developing country negotiators in the WTO accession process by improving their understanding of WTO rules and disciplines, and their impact on national development and policy options. It focuses on: supporting national negotiators to prepare their participation in WTO Working Parties on Accessions (defining negotiating strategy and tactics, preparing the foreign trade regime memoranda and written replies to questions from WTO members; assisting Governments in preparing offers on market access in goods and services and commitments on agricultural support measures; preparing reports and background papers on the policies adopted by their trading partners towards them; providing expertise and advice on strengthening capacity building; and training trade officials in specific trade policy issues).
UNCTAD maintains close contact and cooperation with the WTO secretariat. "Cooperation with UNCTAD in the provision and tailoring of technical assistance", said WTO in the technical note on the accession process, "has been particularly close and complementary".
UNCTAD currently provides assistance to the following countries acceding to WTO: Algeria, Belarus, Bhutan (LDC), Cambodia (LDC), Cape Verde (LDC), Ethiopia (LDC), Kazakhstan, the Lao People´s Democratic Republic (LDC), Nepal (LDC), the Russian Federation, Samoa (LDC), Sudan (LDC), Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen (LDC) and Yugoslavia.
UNCTAD projects were financed by UNDP, Japan, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
