Yemen to Join World Trade Organization this Week

The 9th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, which opens today Tuesday in Bali, Indonesia, is expected to approve Yemen’s accession to the organization. The meeting will last until December 6.

Yemeni Trade and Industry Minister Sa’aduddin Bin Taleb said Yemen would sign the protocol of its official accession to the World Trade Organization in Bali on Wednesday, becoming the organizations’ 160th member.

The Saba news agency quoted Bin Taleb as saying: “With this signature, Yemen would have completed all its obligations to join the WTO, and all that remains is the local endorsement by the People’s Assembly, the Prime Ministry, and the President of the Republic. This means we have achieved the objectives of 13 years of hard work and, with God’s will, Yemen will benefit from this move.”

Bin Taleb said Yemen’s accession would provide employment opportunities and assist the country’s economic development, as well as other benefits.

Yemen started its negotiations to join the WTO on November 20, 2004, following its application on April 12, 2000.

The integration of the Yemeni market into world economy is one of the main objectives of the Yemeni administrative and economic reform program. The liberation of foreign trade is seen as an important gateway to integration within the framework of the government’s implementation of the economic reform program, which it started in 1995 with the support of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and which includes many measures which aimed at liberalizing foreign trade.