On 16 December 2015 the WTO announced that the 10th Ministerial Conference welcomed Liberia’s accession package and membership in the WTO. Liberia will bring the number of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the WTO to 35 — more than a fifth of the WTO membership. On 17 December 2015, the WTO announced that the 10th Ministerial Conference had approved the accession package for Afghanistan. For Afghanistan, this is the culmination of an almost 11-year long process…
On 17 December 2015, at the 10th Ministerial Conference, the WTO announced that it has received six additional ratifications for the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), bringing up to 63 the number of WTO members that have formally accepted the TFA. Several ratifications were submitted by ministers during the organization’s Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. The six are: Myanmar (Burma), Norway, Viet Nam, Brunei, Zambia and Ukraine.
On 16 December 2015, the WTO announced that WTO members representing major exporters of information technology products agreed at the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference, in Nairobi, on the timetable for implementing a landmark deal to eliminate tariffs on 201 IT products valued at over $1.3 trillion per year. Negotiations were conducted by 53 WTO members, including both developed and developing countries, which account for approximately 90 per cent of world trade in these products. However,…
On December 15, 2015, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice of determination of procurement thresholds for calendar years 2016 and 2017. Executive Order 12260 requires the USTR to set the U.S. dollar thresholds for application of Title III of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2511 et seq.), which implements U.S. trade agreement obligations, including those under the WTO Agreement on Government…
On 30 November 2015, the WTO announced that Kazakhstan became the 162nd WTO member, closing the 20-year long chapter of negotiating its accession terms with WTO members. By depositing the “Instrument of Acceptance” of its membership terms with Director-General Roberto Azevêdo on 31 October 2015, Kazakhstan activated the 30-day countdown to its WTO membership, which became effective on 30 November 2015. Kazakhstan’s Accession Package was approved by the Working Party members on 22 June 2015 and…
On 30 November 2015, the WTO announced that Guyana has become the 53rd WTO member and first South American nation to ratify the new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The WTO Secretariat received the country’s instrument of acceptance on 30 November. The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the Agreement. In addition to Guyana, the following WTO members have also accepted the agreement: Hong Kong China, Singapore, the…