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UN to host forum for Asia-Pacific States on joining World Trade Organization

UN to host forum for Asia-Pacific States on joining World Trade Organization

Trade officials from across the Asia-Pacific region are gearing up for a United Nations seminar in Bangkok next week on facilitating accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Trade officials from across the Asia-Pacific region are gearing up for a United Nations seminar in Bangkok next week on facilitating accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which is hosting the four-day event, noted today that despite China’s recent accession to the WTO, more than 20 Asian and Pacific developing countries are not yet members. ESCAP called membership in the trade pact “an essential first step if the marginalization of the poorest countries is to be reversed.”

The seminar, which opens on Monday, will review the WTO accession process while providing officials from different countries with the opportunity to discuss their experiences on the matter.

The event will feature a keynote address by Ambassador Stuart Harbinson, the Permanent Representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China to the WTO and Chairman of the WTO General Council.