Bruselas, Bélgica, 28 de septiembre del 2012.- Las condiciones de adhesión de la R.D.P. Lao a la
OMC fueron acordadas por los países que han participado en las negociaciones
con esta nación menos adelantada el 28 de septiembre de 2012 y se someterán
ahora a la aprobación de los 157 Miembros con que cuenta actualmente la OMC, en
la reunión del Consejo General del 26 de octubre.
Essentially,
the deal is done, but officially it is “ad referendum”, meaning it still needs
to be confirmed, in this case at the General Council meeting.
WTO
Director-General Pascal Lamy praised members for the remarkable acceleration in
least developed countries’ accessions since 2011. Laos’ talks benefited from
members agreeing to speed up the process and to provide essential technical
assistance to the government. “It shows the commitment of the WTO to the
least-developed countries,” he said.
Chinese
Ambassador YI Xiaozhun, who chairs the working party of members negotiating
with Laos (officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic or Lao PDR), also
welcomed the decision: “Lao PDR’s WTO accession is a strong, positive and clear
signal for its commitment to engaging with the global economy in the framework
of the rules-based trading system.
“For the
WTO, Lao PDR’s accession means a warm welcome to another least-developed
country into the multilateral trading system. This, in turn, has systemic
benefits such as improved compliance with market access commitments in goods
and services and with WTO rules,” Ambassador Yi said.
Laos’
Industry and Commerce Minister Nam Viyaketh thanked WTO members for concluding
the accession negotiations. He praised the chairperson for his leadership and
commended the Secretariat team for professional dedication.
The
agreement by consensus in Laos’ 66-member Accession Working Party (counting the
EU’s member states as well as the EU itself) comes 15 years after Laos first
applied to join the WTO in 1997. The working party was set up in 1998 but did
not meet until 2004.
The timing
will allow Laos to meet its objective of being accepted as a new member by the
time it hosts an Asia-Europe summit meeting (ASEM) in November, even though a
few legal formalities still remain before it is officially a member.
Where is
Laos now in its negotiation?
Essentially
the negotiation is now over. The membership package now goes to the General
Council for formal approval. After that, Laos still has to ratify the agreement
and inform the WTO that it has done so by depositing its “Instrument of
Acceptance”.. Thirty days later it officially joins the WTO. Minister Nam said
he is confident the National Assembly will complete ratification in December.
As a
least-developed country (LDC), Laos’s application is covered by new guidelines
for accelerating membership negotiations for these countries, approved by the
General Council on 25 July 2012 (document WT/L/508/Add.1), which in turn update
the original 2002 guidelines (document WT/L/508).
After a
slow start, Laos’ membership talks accelerated into a final sprint with three
working party meetings in 2012 — before that the working party had never met
more than once a year.
In this
meeting
The working
party’s 10th meeting informally went through the set of documents covering the
details of the accession and Laos commitments before the chairperson formally
gavelled through the agreement.
Minister
Nam said: “Lao people place high hopes on today’s event. We have gone — and we
continue going — through a process of intensive reforms. During the accession
process, Lao PDR has amended and enacted more than 90 pieces of laws and
regulations, all in compliance with WTO Agreements.”
He went on:
“This process has been long and tedious and very difficult for us. As you know,
as experienced negotiators, the position of a negotiator is not an easy one. We
knew that we were engaged in a difficult exercise of convincing our trade
partners of our good will, but also the constraints we are facing as a least
developed country with a less bargaining power and still rely on ODA [overseas
development assistance].
“We,
however, underestimated the difficult negotiations we would have to undergo at
the internal front. Quite frankly, trying to convince our trading partners of
the position of Lao PDR only to go home, and to convince our internal partners
of the justification of the reforms requested, was one of our most difficult
and hard tasks.”
Members
congratulated Laos. They supported approving the accession package and holding
a special General Council meeting on 26 October to adopt it.
Fellow
least developed countries Haiti, which coordinates the group in the WTO, Nepal
and the Central African Republic, said the deal will inspire other least
developed country applicants. Yemen, one of these applicants, said it hopes its
membership deal can be approved by December.
The EU, US,
Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Canada praised Laos’ commitment to the
multilateral trading system and pledged to continue to give technical
assistance to Laos after it has become a member. Also welcoming Laos’
membership were the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN, which
includes Laos), Chinese Taipei, Viet Nam, Hong Kong China, India, Argentina and
Ukraine.
Laos’
commitments
Part of the
membership package contains the market access commitments that Laos is making
in goods and services — tariff ceilings on goods, subsidy limits in
agriculture, and access to its services markets. These are a combination of the
offers Laos itself made, with additional commitments agreed in bilateral
negotiations with the nine interested members — Australia, Canada, China, the
EU, Japan, Rep. Korea, Chinese Taipei, the US and Ukraine — and built into the
multilateral package.
The
multilateral deal also contains descriptions of Laos’ trade regime, and
wide-ranging commitments on laws and measures designed to ensure the regime
conforms to WTO rules. Laos is also land-locked. In order to support the
negotiations, Laos has received technical assistance from other WTO members,
who said they would continue to provide aid after it has joined the WTO.
When it
joins the WTO, Laos has agreed to the following:
Market
opening
For goods,
Laos is committing “bound” tariffs (effectively maximum rates) that average
18.8% for all products — 19.3% on average for agricultural products, and 18.7%
for the rest.
In
services, Laos has made market access commitments in 10 sectors, covering 79
sub-sectors.
Other
commitments include:
Tariffs will be “ordinary customs duties”
only, within committed levels, with no additional duties and charges.
Agricultural subsidies to be according to
Laos’ “schedule” of commitments — including no export subsidies.
WTO rules, such as rules of origin,
preshipment inspection, anti-dumping measures, countervailing duty, safeguards,
customs valuation, export measures including prohibitions, subsidies,
trade-related investment measures, free zones, laws on transit operations,
preferential trade under bilateral, regional and other agreements, to comply
with WTO agreements immediately.
Technical Barriers to Trade (product
standards and labelling) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (food safety
and animal and plant health) agreements fully implemented by 1 January 2015.
Intellectual property protection to comply
fully with the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) Agreement by 31 December 2016.
WTO rules on trading rights to apply from
the date of becoming a member, with some exceptions for two years, although
measures can be applied under WTO agreements on import licensing, technical
barriers to trade (product standards and labelling) and sanitary and
phytosanitary measures (food safety and animal and plant health).
State enterprises to import or export
broadly under commercial terms, and to notify their imports and exports to the
WTO.
Price controls will be consistent with WTO
rules on trade in goods, agricultural products and services.
Companies and individuals to have the right
to legal appeal on government administrative actions covered by WTO rules,
including those on trade regulations, subsidies, customs valuation,
intellectual property rights and domestic regulation in services.
Laos’ commitments and WTO rules to be
applied throughout the country and enforced by the government without the need
for recourse to the courts.
Government fees and charges for services
will be according to WTO agreements.
Taxes and other charges on imports to
comply with WTO agreements including national treatment (non-discrimination
between imported and domestically produced products).
No quantitative restrictions such as
licensing, quotas, prohibitions, bans and other restrictions, except if for
balance of payments purposes, which would follow WTO rules.
Transparency: Laos to submit initial
notifications as required within six months. All relevant laws, regulations and
other measures will be notified as required by WTO rules and be made public in
print and on the Internet. An Official Gazette to be set up within three years.
Next
General
Council: 26 October 2012.
Background
Laos
Accession Working Party members(according to the latest official list, but
regularly updated):
Australia,
Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, Dominican Rep.,
EU, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, Rep. Korea, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New
Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore,
Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, United States, Viet
Nam, Zambia
Chairperson:
Ambassador Yi Xiaozhun of China
Secretary:
Mr Dayong Yu
Co-Secretary:
Ms Petra Beslać
Director of
the WTO Accessions Division: Mr Chiedu Osakwe
Lao
People’s Democratic Republic applied to join the WTO on 16 July 1997. The
General Council agreed to set up a working party on 19 February 1998. The
working party met on 28 October 2004, 30 November 2006, 15 November 2007, 4
July 2008, 14 July 2009, 24 September 2010, 29 June 2011, 16 March 2012, 12
July 2012 and 28 September.
Statement
by H.E. Dr Nam Viyaketh
Minister of
Industry and Commerce, Lao PDR
10th
Session of the Working Party on WTO Accession of Lao PDR
28
September 2012
On behalf
of the Lao delegation, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the WTO Secretariat,
particularly the Accessions Division, for their hard work in planning,
facilitating, and preparing for this final Working Party meeting of Lao PDR. I
would also like to extend these sincere thanks to you, Mr Chairman, for your
effective leadership in our accession process. Allow me to as well take this
opportunity to thank all WTO Members and development partners for their
constant support. Without your active engagement and support in the process,
today’s concluding meeting would not have been possible.
Mr
Chairman,
Lao people
place high hopes on today’s event. We have gone — and we continue going —
through a process of intensive reforms. During the accession process, Lao PDR
has amended and enacted more than 90 pieces of laws and regulations, all in
compliance with WTO Agreements, covering various areas in particular on trading
rights, import licensing procedures, customs valuation, investment regime,
sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and trade
related intellectual property rights. Lao PDR has also made tremendous efforts
in improving investment climate and opening its market for goods and services.
Lao PDR is
able to open its economy as it is already a member in a free trade agreement
with very competitive neighbours. Moreover, as a landlocked country with long
porous borders which are difficult to control, our ability to protect the
internal market with high tariffs is thus very limited unless we simply want to
encourage fraud. This, however, does not mean that Lao PDR’s accession results
should be used as a standard for other LDCs with different conditions. Let me
conclude with the importance of a tailor-made approach for the accession
process: each country has its own possibilities and constraints. Clearly guidelines
and benchmarks for LDC accession are important. However, at the end, what
counts is that WTO Members and acceding governments are sensitive to each
other’s needs and possibilities and come to an agreement on the essential
elements.
This
process has been long and tedious and very difficult for us. As you know, as
experienced negotiators, the position of a negotiator is not an easy one. We
knew that we were engaged in a difficult exercise of convincing our trade
partners of our good will, but also the constraints we are facing as a least
developed country with a less bargaining power and still rely on ODA. We,
however, underestimated the difficult negotiations we would have to undergo at
the internal front. Quite frankly, trying to convince our trading partners of
the position of Lao PDR only to go home, and to convince our internal partners
of the justification of the reforms requested, was one of our most difficult
and hard tasks.
Another
important constraint in our accession process was to create the necessary
capacity to implement the reforms once we got the political green light for
them. Reforms cannot be made by outsiders: you need the internal capacity to
fully measure the meaning and the implications of the reform. We had to build
up this capacity both within our Ministry and in our partner Ministries, train
them and introduce them to the multilateral requirements. This can help explain
the amount of time our accession process took. I can proudly announce that
today we have competent and dedicated team working on these issues, which
allowed us to master a large reform program and which will ensure their full
implementation.
Mr
Chairman,
Please
allow me to take this opportunity to acknowledge the support we have received
in form of financial and technical assistance by bilateral and multilateral
donors. Without outside help it would be difficult for Lao PDR to achieve this
reform goal. I appreciate the effective use donor support for Lao PDR to meet
WTO standards.
Lao PDR has
used the accession process as a useful blueprint for reforms in our trade and
economic framework on the basis of international best practices. We were
privileged to benefit from comments and suggestions of Working Party Members.
Without your cooperation and your compassion for our country, we would not have
been able to institute those reforms. The accession process — we are convinced
— has provided us with the necessary basis to achieve our goal of meeting the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and graduating from the LDC by 2020.
Mr
Chairman,
We are
fully aware that WTO accession and this meeting are important milestones in our
efforts, but the work continues. Our first task is to ensure that the WTO
accession package is approved by the National Assembly as swiftly as possible.
Right after this meeting we will submit the package to the National Assembly
and we are confident that the whole package will be approved in this December
session. Our confidence is based on the following elements: (i) we have already
mobilized our National Assembly and have organized very useful sessions with
neighboring countries; (ii) we have kept the National Assembly informed about
the process and they have already approved all the laws that have lead us to
this point; and (iii) we have prepared the necessary arguments to explain the
benefits and the reasons for the package.
Our second
task will be to share the results of our negotiations with the private sector
and the public. We have foreseen a campaign not only in Vientiane Capital, but
also in the provinces, both to inform them about the package agreed with our
partners and to mobilize their support and their interest in taking full
advantage of the new opportunities that these reforms are opening up. Only if
the economic actors know their rights, can we ensure that they will also be
respected.
Thirdly, we
put ourselves to the task of fully implementing our commitments. You all know
that one thing is to pass reforms another thing is to make sure that they are
implemented. We are setting up the necessary structures to ensure this and to
make sure that any new laws and regulations are in full compliance with our
commitments. We need to train government officials to correctly apply the new
policies. Allow me to make an appeal to our friends: we need your assistance
and support in this implementation phase. Let us not lose time and the momentum
we have built; we want to start our implementation work immediately. Lao PDR is
very grateful for the transition periods it has received. It is for us also a
matter of honor to ensure that we implement the measures foreseen in the
transition period in time and fully.
We still
have a long way to go on our development path. Lao PDR is an LDC of 6 million
people, with more than 1 million of these still living under the poverty line.
The limited human and financial resources and the lack of expertise are still
major problem for Lao PDR. Even though our economy has experienced a high
growth rate — with more than 7 per cent on average over the last decade — its
main source of growth are still natural resources and prone to external shocks.
Mr
Chairman,
When we
compare where we were at the beginning of this process and where we are now, it
is easy to appreciate the tremendous effort Lao PDR has made. All Members’
interests, questions and requests have been fully addressed; and all relevant
documentation has been circulated to WTO Members.
Today my
delegates come with the high hopes of Lao people who are waiting for good news
from us. On behalf of my delegates, I would like to seek the Working Party
Members’ acceptance of the Draft Working Party Report, and provide a green
light for us to become a Member of this family. This would be a historical
achievement for my country, and it would also be the end of this long accession
process. But, it would also be the beginning of the new phase of putting
commitments and obligations into practice, a new challenge we are prepared and
eager to begin.
Mr
Chairman,
In order to
keep up the momentum back home, on behalf of the delegation from Lao PDR,
please allow me to seek the agreement of the Members on the next step,
permitting an early signing ceremony with the WTO Director General. The sooner
we are able to proceed with this signature, the better momentum we can bring to
our people back home. This is a crucial time, since we would like to announce
this historical news as hosts of the 9th Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting,
which will be held in Vientiane in early November. Therefore, on behalf of the
Government of Lao PDR, I would like to seek the support of the Members to
facilitate the organizing of such an important signing ceremony as early as
possible, in advance of the upcoming summit in November.
Thank you!
Fuente: OMC