Gov’t MCAE organizes a high-level conference on WTO and ASEAN in TL
DILI, 12 july 2022 (TATOLI) – The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs (MCAE) today organized the High-Level Conference on World Trade Organization (WTO) / Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with the theme: ‘Maximizing Benefits from ASEAN and WTO accessions as the pathway to achieving 2030 development goals.’
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Chief Negotiator, Joaquim Amaral, said this high-level conference on WTO / ASEAN is aimed to share the experience with three ASEAN non-founding members, Vietnam, LAOS PDR, and Cambodia, these countries also subsequently acceded to the WTO.
“This High-Level Conference on Timor-Leste’s WTO/ASEAN accession will focus on examining the synergies in the two accession processes and providing a platform for sharing experiences with the three non-founding members of ASEAN, Vietnam, LAOS PDR, Cambodia Joined in 1995, 1997 and 1999 while accessed to the WTO in 2004, 2007 and 2013,” Joaquim Amaral, told reporters at the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Pantai Kelapa, Dili, Tuesday.
He added that at the regional level Timor-Leste applied for ASEAN membership in March 2011, and has received two Fact-Finding Missions such as the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), ASEAN Social Security and will conduct the final Fact-Finding Mission while in july 19, 2022 the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will complete a comprehensive assessment of technical readiness, a key step in the accession process.
“All criteria have been met by Timor-Leste. Timor – Leste has also held three cycles of Working Party Meetings held in just 18 months, listed substantive progress of the Timor – Leste accession process, therefore Timor – Leste has strong confidence to access both ASEAN and WTO organizations by 2023′ ‘ he said.
This meeting was discussed more specifically to provide an overview of Timor-Leste’s accession to the two organizations. Examine the scope for their further progress and synchronization and identify best practices and lessons learned from previous ASEAN/WTO accessions.
At the same time the President of the Republic, José Ramos Horta, said that Timor-Leste’s accession to become a member of ASEAN and the WTO is very important and has become one of the national priorities because Timor-Leste has applied to ASEAN since 2011 and the WTO in 2016.
Recently Timor – Leste has continued to fight for accession to both organizations through the hard efforts organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation together with the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs as well as the Ministerial line under the synchronization direction of Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak.
Journalist: Camilo de Sousa
Editor: Nelia B
