Map of members of the WTO

Laos has been making steady progress in its talks on joining the WTO, including reaching agreement with the EU on opening its market to goods, the working party of WTO members negotiating with Laos heard in their fourth meeting, on 4 July 2008. But more work is still needed before commitments on applying WTO rules are included in a draft text.

Australian Ambassador Bruce Gosper, who chairs the working party, described the meeting as “productive and businesslike”. He said: “I think we have made good progress at this meeting although I recognize that there are still areas where further work is needed. With hard work, flexibility and goodwill on all sides, I believe this [least-developed country] accession has the potential to accelerate.”

Thirty WTO members are in Laos’s working party (57 if the EU’s member states are also counted). WTO members are free to choose whether to participate in the working party.

EARLY STAGES STILL. The talks are still in their early stages. The working party’s discussions are now based on a “factual summary of points raised”, a preliminary document that still has to evolve through some more stages before it can become the “draft working party report” — which goes beyond the facts and includes draft commitments — and eventually the final agreement.

As a least-developed country (LDC), Laos’s application is covered by the 2002 General Council guidelines for accelerating membership negotiations (document WT/L/508). Laos is also land-locked. In order to support the negotiation, Laos is receiving technical assistance from other WTO members. Laos thanked them for this and called for more.

Since the last meeting in November 2007, Laos has improved its market-opening offers on goods and services. The countries interested in negotiating market access bilaterally with Laos said the revised offers will be useful for the bilateral talks. These countries include: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, the EU, India, Japan and the US. (WTO membership agreements require bilateral agreements to be “multilateralized”, ie, whatever Laos agrees bilaterally would have to apply to all WTO members.)

Laos — officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) — “seeks to use its WTO accession as a way to hasten economic integration while fostering real social development,” Laotian Industry and Commerce Minister Nam Viyaketh said.

“This is key to achieving successful negotiations that are also viable and legitimate domestically. In this respect, my concern at this stage is not on improving our market access offers for the sake of playing with the numbers.

“Rather, it is in the well-understood interest of Lao PDR and the world community that we take commitments we can and will implement and continue in our process of reform rather than to agree to commitments which both you and we know we will not be able to adhere to.”

LAWS, REGULATIONS, TRANSITION PERIODS. Laos also reported on a range of new laws and regulations adopted in order to meet WTO requirements (see details).

“We have been working very hard to seize on the good will and enthusiasm members have shown in Lao PDR’s accession,” Dr Nam said. “To achieve progress, Lao PDR has been working hard in bringing related laws and regulations in line with WTO requirements.”

Revisions in the pipeline include reducing the range of goods subject to price controls, import and export prohibitions and licensing.

Other issues being studied or where further work is required include trading rights, customs valuation, rules of origin, subsidies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (i.e. food safety, animal and plant health), technical barriers to trade (i.e. product standards, labelling, etc), investment measures and intellectual property.

Laos has asked to be allowed transition periods so that it has longer to implement WTO agreements in some areas such as customs valuation, sanitary-phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, investment and intellectual property.

These could be discussed at the next meeting. No date was set but the Chairman (Ambassador Gosper) suggested that it may be held in the first half of 2009.

“I would urge Laos to keep the Working Party regularly informed of legislative developments in Vientiane by submitting translated copies of all WTO-related legislation, including laws enacted recently,” the chairperson said.

“I would also request Lao PDR to update and revise its Legislative Action Plan(s) before the next meeting. This would enable us to track the process of implementing and enforcing a WTO-consistent trade regime in Lao PDR. In this context, I should underscore the critical importance of technical assistance for Lao PDR which, as an LDC [least-developed country], faces particular challenges and capacity constraints. I would urge all TA [technical assistance] providers to continue and, where possible, step up this much needed support.”

http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/19877