Comoros is a least-developed country or LDC in the Indian Ocean, with a population of approximately 780 000. The Government of the Union of the Comoros applied for accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in February 2007, and the working party was established in October 2007. In October 2013, the country submitted its Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime. The first meeting of the working party on the accession of the Union of the Comoros was held on 02 December 2016.
On 28 March 2018 Comoros reaffirmed its high-level political commitment to move forward and conclude the WTO accession negotiation process as soon as possible. At the fourth meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of the Comoros, WTO members commended the work done by the authorities of Moroni in this process and encouraged them to continue their efforts to fully bring the country’s foreign trade regime into conformity with WTO rules and requirements.
WTO members were invited to turn their attention to the development of commitments for the Working Party report, and the final document was passed on to the General Council for approval, covering the applicant country's commitments on applying WTO rules. WTO members were asked to provide additional questions and observations in writing before 27 April.
Comoros was invited to revise the specific action plans to ensure the conformity of national laws with the WTO Agreements and to present an updated and revised legislative action plan along with the new WTO-related legislation.
The next Working Party meeting will take place tentatively before August, subject to progress on the legislative front and other developments in the bilateral market access negotiations.
