RESTRI CTED 
  
JOB/A CC/TLS/6 
29 April 2022 
(22-3407) Page: 1/3 
Working Party on the Accession of Timor -Leste  Original: English  
 
ACCESSION OF TIMOR -LESTE  
OPENING S TATEMENT B Y H.E. MR JOAQUIM AMARAL , 
COORDINATING MINISTER OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND CHIEF NEGOTIATOR  ON  
WTO ACCESSION OF TIMOR -LESTE  
3rd meeting o f the Working Party on the Accession of Timor-Leste   
Friday, 29 April 2022, 10:00 am 
1. First of all, please allow me to bring you warm and cordial greetings from the Government 
and the people of the Democratic Republic of Timor -Leste.  
2. On behalf of the members of my delegation, and on my own behalf, I wish to thank the 
Working P arty for the warm reception and for going ahead with  this 3rd meeting , only nine months 
after the last session in July 2021 .  
3. We greatly appreciate the presence of all the distinguished representatives of Working Party 
Members in today's meetin g, both in person in Geneva and virtually. Thank you for your interest 
and support for our accession.  
4. And of course, I would also like to express our profound gratitude and appreciation to the 
WTO Secretariat for their endless assistance in this process.  
5. Allow me to start by highlight ing that today 's Working Pa rty meeting, which is the first one 
that we have  had the pleasure to attend physically,  marks an important landmark for my 
Government .  
6. Our strong  commitment to WTO accession is well -known. Timor -Leste has all the necessary 
elements in place to work towards entry to the WTO: strong political will, at the highest level and 
across all partisan lines ; readiness to promptly advance with the setting up of necessary legislative 
and polic y frameworks, with the involvement of all stakeholders; and a dedicated  negotiating 
team. WTO  accession is one of the main economic and trade policy objectives enshrined in  Timor -
Leste 's Vision for 2030 , necessary to help achieve faster economic growth, di versification and 
transformation  into an upper middle -income economy with a healthy, well -educated and safe 
population . As our nation celebrates 20 years of its independence next month, we believe that 
Timor -Leste's integration in to the multila teral trading system is an impo rtant s tep that needs to be 
taken as expeditiously as possible. We are ready to work hard, together with Members, to make it 
happen.  
7. Our meeting today marks the third round of our multilateral engagement  that is taking p lace 
in less than two years. Sin ce Octobe r 2020, when this process was officially activated, with your 
wide support and despite the shocks of the COVID -19 pand emic, we have worked tirelessly and 
under your guidance  on the submission of a full inventory of  Timor -Leste's foreign trade regi me, 
formulation of our trade policy and market access proposals, and – now – negotiat ions with 
Members on our future commitment s.  JOB/ACC/TLS/6   
 
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  8. On the bilateral front, I am pleased to report significant advancement in our market a ccess 
discussions with Members. Seve ral Membe rs have requested bilateral market access negotiations 
since last July, including Australia, Cambodia, Canada, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan , 
New Zealand, Philippines, and the United States. Consultations  have been taking place during this 
period, i ncluding during the visit of my delegation to Geneva in November 2021, as well as on the 
margins of this Working Pa rty meeting. We received concrete requests and questions and  would 
like to thank a ll Members for their constructive positions in thi s proces s.  
9. I am pleased to inform  the Working Party that, having received Members' requests, and 
based on the results of t he Services Regulatory Audit exercise assisted by the WTO Secretariat and  
the ITC , we have produced a revised Services offer  which  covers a wider range of services sectors 
where Timor -Leste is ready to undertake market access commitments.  We have already shared  
this revised offer , unofficially, bilaterally with  interested Members, and intend to finalise and 
submit i t for circulation  after this Working Party meeting .  
10. In parallel , we are also revising the initial  Goods offer , to better reflect Timor -Leste 's 
economic and trade policy commitments , as well as the requests rec eived, for subsequent 
circulation in May.  
11. Assessing th e progress made in our bilateral meeting this week, I believe that we could aim  
to sign some of the bilateral market access agreements  already on the margins of  the upcoming 
12th WTO Ministerial Conference ; and we are ready to intensify our en gagement on m arket access 
with all interested Members, based on the LDC Accession Guidelines.  
12. On the multilateral front, I am pleased to inform you that Timor -Leste has worked 
expediti ously on the submission of the following  negotiation  documentation  requested by 
Members : 
• Replies to the additional 58 questions raised by Members ; 
• Revision of the SPS Checklist;  
• Revision of  the Legislative Plan  (LAP) and translations of new laws; and  
• Update of the information on the Domestic Support and Export Subsidies in the Agricultural 
Sector (AGST s).  
13. Based on these documents, we worked with the WTO Secretariat to produce the "Elements  
of a Draft Working Party Report", as agreed by the Working Par ty at its las t meeting.  
14. I am pleased to inform the Working Party  that Tim or-Leste has agreed to include  twenty -five 
(25) draft commitments in this document, for multilateral consideration , most notably on the WTO 
Trade Facilitation Agreement  and the A greement on Gove rnment Procurement . On other sections, 
such as Trading Rights or Customs Valuation, we will be happy to further discuss with Members 
and ascertain their positions, before including these draft commitments in the Working Party 
documentation.  At the same time le gislative work i s underway to improve the existing legislati on, 
such as the Customs Code, where amendments are being drafted to fully incorporate the 
provisions of the Customs Valuation Agreement in the Code.  
15. Finally, as an LDC, T imor-Leste would like to  request transition periods for the 
implementation of som e of the future commitments, due to the existence of capacity constraints 
and the absence of regulatory frameworks. These are commitments on taxation, SPS, TBT and 
TRIPS. We w ill be happy to elaborat e on the Action Plans proposed for the Working Party 's 
consideration.  
16. Overall, we hope that this initial "commitment package", which we understand is already 
extensive for an LDC, demonstrates our dedication to adher ing to WTO rules and reflects our 
strong will to integrate in the international goods and s ervices market s. As an LDC, we will 
appreciate Members' consideration of our specific needs in this process.  
17. I cannot finish my intervention without mentioning the  links between this process and our 
accession to ASEAN.  JOB/ACC/TLS/6   
 
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  18. For this, please allow me t o refer to  the statement made by our newly elected President, 
Dr. José Ramos Horta  at the last Working Party meeting , reaffirming that : 
"WTO accession is as important t o us as our accession to ASEAN. Attainment of these twin 
goals enjoy solid national cons ensus and commitment. This means, there may be changes 
in leadership within the Government and Country, as part of nor mal democratic cycles, but 
the State is permanent,  and the twin goals, membership in ASEAN and WTO remains our 
National Strategic Prioriti es". 
19. I am confident that, with your support and our commitment , we will be ready to advance on 
this goal , finalise the accession negotiations  and become a WTO Membe r early next year. We will 
continue working hard to achieve this based on our  accession r oadmap . To support this sustained 
commitment, we are happy to report  that government consultations are un derway on the 
establishment of a Permanent Secretariat on WTO Accession  in the upcoming months.  
20. We will now be very pleased to respond to any questions and comments . Thank you very 
much for your attention . 
 
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