Nepal on 24 January became the 108th World Trade Organisation (WTO) member to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) requiring only two more ratifications for the TFA to enter into force.
The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the agreement. Thus far three of the six Southern African Customs Union (SACU) member states, and seven of the 15 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states have ratified the TFA. South Africa has yet to but is unlikely to do so any time soon. It is expected to be one of the few WTO members that will not ratify the TFA.
In addition to Nepal, the following WTO members have also accepted the TFA: Hong Kong China, Singapore, the Unites States of America, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, China, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, the European Union (on behalf of its 28 member states), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Guyana, Côte d’Ivoire, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Kenya, Myanmar, Norway, Viet Nam, Brunei, Ukraine, Zambia, Lesotho, Georgia, Seychelles, Jamaica, Mali, Cambodia, Paraguay, Turkey, Brazil, Macao China, the United Arab Emirates, Samoa, India, the Russian Federation, Montenegro, Albania, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, Madagascar, the Republic of Moldova, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Iceland, Chile, Swaziland, Dominica, Mongolia, Gabon, the Kyrgyz Republic, Canada, Ghana, Mozambique, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, and Nigeria.
