WTO Concludes Negotiations on Entry of Vanuatu

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has successfully concluded negotiations on Vanuatu's terms of membership of the WTO, paving the way for the text of the agreement to be adopted formally at the WTO's fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha next week, WTO press release said here Friday.

"With Vanuatu's membership, the WTO will further broaden its membership to include a very small country from the pacific committed to the multilateral trading system," said WTO Director-General Mike Moore at the conclusion of the meeting of the Working Party.

He added that as an least developing country, Vanuatu can make an important contribution by bringing to the WTO the concerns and needs of a small trading country.

Moore said: "China and Chinese Taipei are also poised to join our fold. The WTO is now close to become a truly universal organization."

Under the chairmanship of Mrs. S.B.A. Syahruddin, the Working Party concluded six years of negotiations with the Republic of Vanuatu and agreed to forward the legal texts for formal acceptance by the 142 member governments of the WTO.

Vanuatu has a population of 193,000 and the GNP per capita is 1,180 U.S. dollars.

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