RESTRICTED  
  
JOB/ACC/COM/21  
11 January  2024 
(24-0255)  Page: 1/2 
Working Party on the Accession  
of the Union of the Comoros  Original:  French  
 
  
ACCESSION OF THE UNION OF COMOROS  
OPENING STATEMENT BY H.E. MR KAMALIDINE SOUEF, MINISTER OF POSTAL SERVICES, 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE DIGITAL ECONOMY  
Tenth and Final Meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of the Union of the Comoros  
Geneva, 9 January 2024  
1. I take the floor at this, the tenth and final meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of 
Comoros to the WTO, in my capacity as Minister of Postal Services, Telecommunications and the 
Digital Economy, to , first of all, extend to you my best wishes for a good and happy year, in a world 
of peace, solidarity and progress for all nations.  
2. I would also like to congratulate and thank you very warmly for attending this meeting and 
all the previous meetings, and for the outstand ing work that you have accomplished over all these 
years, to reach the excellent outcome that we have achieved , and of which the Union of the Comoros 
is today the fortunate beneficiary.  
3. The Final Report, which has been prepared carefully and rigorously, a nd which we will formally 
adopt, is the shining example of this.  
4. At this juncture, please allow me to welcome the Director -General of the WTO, 
Dr. Ngozi  Okonjo -Iweala, who reached out to the President of the Union of the Comoros, the current 
Chairperson o f the African Union, His Excellency Mr Azali Assoumani, thus allowing the last obstacles 
that appeared right at the end of the process to be overcome very quickly, thanks to the effective 
efforts of the Director of the Accessions Division, under the able l eadership of Deputy 
Director -General Xiangchen Zhang  
5. Comoros is grateful to all the Members of the Working Party, particularly the United States of 
America and the European Union, not to mention the countries with which we have signed bilateral 
agreements . 
6. We thank these valuable partners for their frank openness to dialogue and for their continually 
constructive attitude in the negotiations that we have been engaged in throughout the process.  
7. It is thanks to all these invaluable contributions, in additio n to all the good will, and the 
regulatory and legislative provisions adopted by Comoros since the last meeting of the Working 
Party, that we are now calm and confident about the forthcoming accession of our country to the 
WTO at its Thirteenth Ministerial  Conference, from 26 to 29  February  2024, in Abu Dhabi.  
8. Last but not least, we cannot thank H.E. Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative 
of the Kingdom of Morocco, enough as the active and wise Chair of the Working Party , and linchpin 
of this gre at collective success.  
9. Comoros is also very grateful to those partners that have enabled our delegates to travel to 
Geneva, to attend each of the Working Party's meetings, specifically the International Trade Centre, 
the People's Republic of China, and especially the Sultanate o f Oman.  JOB/ACC/COM/21  
 
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  10. The support we have received from international and regional organizations, including the 
African Union, the League of Arab States, the Group of Least Developed Countries, the Organization 
of the Islamic Conference, the Group of Non -Aligned Countr ies, has bolstered our determination and 
perseverance, more than these partners would believe. Please accept our sincere thanks.  
11. Lastly, allow me to reiterate, once again, that our accession to the WTO should not be 
considered an end in itself. Quite the c ontrary. It is the starting point for another, even more 
ambitious undertaking.  
12. That of modernizing the financial management of our public sector to bring it into line the 
commitments we have undertaken by acceding to the WTO, and to make it an effective tool for 
development.  
13. This is one of the reasons why the President of the Union of Comoros had made accession to 
the WTO one of the priorities of his current term, which is  now drawing to a close.  
14. More than ever, we urgently request technical and financia l support from our bilateral and 
multilateral partners in order to take advantage of the new and powerful leverage effect of our 
accession to the WTO for the development of our archipelago, in line with realistic project of making 
Comoros a developing coun try by 2030, according to the goals of the President of the Union, 
H.E. Mr Azali Assoumani.  
15. Long live international solidarity and cooperation!  
16. I thank you for your kind attention.  
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