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JOB/ACC/TLS/10  
 
31 July 2023  
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Working Party on the Accession of Timor -Leste  Original: English  
 
ACCESSION OF TIMOR -LESTE  
GENERAL COUNCIL ITEM 12: BRIEFING ON THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN  
THE ACCESSION OF TIMOR -LESTE – REQUEST FROM PORTUGAL  
Statement by H.E. Ambassador Rui Macieira ( Portugal), Chairperson of the Working Party  
25 Jul y 2023 
1. Thank you, Chairperson, for the opportunity to report , as Chair of the Working Party,  on the 
latest developments in the Accession of Timor -Leste, another LDC which is making impressive efforts 
to accede to the WTO, along with Comoros.  
2. The Working Part y on the Accession of Timor -Leste was established in December 2016. Since  
March 2019 I have chaired five meetings, most recently on 20 April. It is one of the fastest -moving 
accessions, driven by the strong determination of one of the youngest states in th e world, having 
gained independence just 21 years ago.  
3. Like in the case of Comoros, Timor -Leste has registered solid progress, making it a good 
candidate for an MC13 deliverable. To date, Timor -Leste has concluded bilateral market access 
negotiations with  eight Members; and with seven of them, the agreements have already been signed 
and deposited with the Secretariat. It remains to conclude negotiations with two Members – although 
I understand that with one, the negotiations are very close to the conclusio n.  
4. To complete the picture on the market access front, let me add that Timor -Leste has agreed 
to join the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the ITA Expansion Agreement (ITA -II). 
Indeed, it will be the first LDC to join both Agreements upon access ion. The Government is about to 
approve the draft schedules, which I hope will be submitted to the ITA Committee and the ITA 
Expansion Group shortly, for verification and approval.  
5. On the multilateral front, the work is at an advanced stage. At our last me eting in April, the 
Working Party unbracketed 28 out of 30 accession -specific commitments in the draft Report, leaving 
only a handful of issues for resolution which I expect will be completed at our next meeting. I am 
pleased to report to you that today, T imor-Leste has circulated several documents in preparation for 
the next meeting. These include: the "questions and replies" document  and the revised legislative 
action plan, together with 11 pieces of legislation.1 I expect that the next revision of the d raft Report 
of the Working Party will be circulated in the coming weeks, once a few elements are confirmed with 
the Secretariat. This version of the draft Report shall be close to final, nearly completing one of the 
three elements of the draft Accession Pa ckage.  
6. Let me now lay out what needs to be done to bring this accession to the finishing line. On the 
Members' side, I would like to request the Members who are yet to conclude bilateral market access 
negotiations with Timor -Leste to do so as soon as possi ble. This will mandate the Secretariat to 
consolidate all the ten agreements and the ITA/ITA -II schedules, once approved, into draft Goods 
and Services Schedules, which constitute two remaining elements of the draft Accession Package. It 
is my hope that th is consolidation work by the Secretariat and the subsequent verification of the 
draft Schedules by signatory Members, could be completed by no later than in the late fall.  
 
1 WTO documents WT/ACC/TLS/31, WT/ACC/TL S/6/Rev.7 and WT/ACC/TLS/30, respectively.  JOB/ACC/TLS/10  
 
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  7. On the side of Timor -Leste, I have urged the new Government, which has been installed earlier 
this month, to do their part of the homework, starting with the approval of the draft ITA/ITA -II 
schedules this week and concluding the remaining bilateral market access negotiations. Dili's 
homework also includes the adoption of 11 piece s of legislation before the end of this year, as 
requested by the Working Party.  
8. In terms of the calendar, it is my hope to hold the next meeting of the Working Party 
immediately after the approval by the ITA Committee of Timor -Leste's draft schedules, to  be followed 
by a final Working Party meeting in December. The Working Party will conclude its mandate by 
adopting the draft Accession Package of Timor -Leste, ad referendum, and transmitting it to the 13th 
Ministerial Conference for formal approval. I trus t that we are on track to reach this goal.  
9. Madame Chairperson, I believe that, together with Comoros, Timor -Leste will make an 
excellent addition to the WTO family, bringing a real benefit to the multilateral trading system. 
I should note that in addition to joining both the ITA and ITA -II upon accession, Timor -Leste already 
announced at MC12 its intention to join the Joint Initiative on Domestic Services Regulation, again 
as the first LDC to do so. On both accounts, Timor -Leste is setting a new standard fo r LDCs, not only 
for other LDC accessions, but also for existing LDC Members.  
10. Let me add that despite being an observer, Timor -Leste has demonstrated a leadership role 
in promoting Trade for Peace for fragile and conflict -affected states through the joint  coordination 
of the g7+ WTO Accessions Group with Liberia. This is another example of the values that 
Timor -Leste will bring to the rules -based multilateral trading system.  
11. Madame Chairperson, I look forward to working closely with all Members and Timor -Leste to 
bring this accession to the finishing line by MC13.  Let me also end by thanking the Director -General 
for her strong engagement in the enlargement process and also in Timor -Leste.  I am ready to 
respond to questions Members may have. Thank you.  
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