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Current
Yemen’s WTO Status:
Yemen currently has Observer Status within the World Trade
Organization.
Yemen's
request for accession to the WTO has been circulated since
14 April 2000. The General Council established a Working
Party on
17 July 2000.
The Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime
was circulated and accepted in November 2002. Following the
acceptance of Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime, some
WTO Member Countries began to put forth questions and
queries (totaling 167) – most of which were from the United
States, the European Union, Canada, and Australia.
Yemen submitted its answers to the Organization in early
2004, which prepared the stage for holding the first Working
Party meeting in November 30, 2004.
The Working Party held its second meeting on
October 03, 2005.
The Meeting reviewed the Factual Summary prepared by WTO
Secretariat, which contained the main subjects discussed in
addition to a continued general examination of the Foreign
Trade Regime; and a Review of Legislative Developments. On
the fringes of the meeting, a round of bilateral
negotiations and meetings took place between
Yemen
and some of its trading partners (i.e., Japan, USA, EU,
Canada, and Australia). These bilateral meetings
concentrated on the initial offer on market access on goods.*
The Working Party held
its fourth meeting in November 02, 2007. the meetings
included evaluating Yemen's offers on supplies or services
in addition to procedures taken by Yemen to meet with world
commercial legislations. During the meetings, Yemen called
for raising the negotiation level to the stage of preparing
a draft report to be turned later to a protocol of join
Yemen to WTO, al-Mutawakel said. Yemen also held bilateral
accession meetings with a number of countries and has
concluded its market access negotiations with China.
Negotiations are ongoing with Australia, Canada, the EC,
Japan, the Republic of Korea and the US.
On 24 October 2008, WTO members reviewed Yemen's legislative
reforms to bring its trade regime inline with WTO rules.
Members also evaluated the progress made in the ongoing
bilateral negotiations on market access for goods and
services.
They also acknowledged Yemen's least-developed country (LDC)
status and will take it into account in their negotiations
to determine Yemen's concessions on market access and
time-frames for implementing its commitments on rules.
As an LDC, Yemen can also
avail itself of technical assistance for reforming its trade
regime and implementing its WTO obligations. In this regard,
The EC announced that a €7 million technical assistance
program will be devoted to Yemen's accession.
The next
Working Party meeting is expected to be held in the first
half of 2009.
Additional
WTO Documents:
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