WTO: 2005 NEWS ITEMS
2 December 2005
ACCESSIONS
The Working Party negotiating Tonga's accession
concludes its mandate
The Working Party on Tonga's accession, on 1 December 2005, adopted the draft Schedule of specific commitments in services, the last remaining document necessary to complete its work on Tonga's membership to the WTO.
At a meeting on 19 November 2005, the Working Party had preliminarily agreed on the adoption of the Tonga's draft Working Party report, the Protocol of accession and the draft Schedule for goods.
The next step in Tonga's accession to the WTO will now be for the Ministerial Conference to adopt the full membership package.
The Kingdom of Tonga applied for accession in June 1995. The Working Party negotiating Tonga's terms of accession was established in November 1995.