PRESS RELEASE 
 
PRESS/431 
15 December 2005 
 
(05-6000) 
ACCESSIONS 
WTO Ministers successfully approv e Tonga’s membership at Hong 
Kong Conference 
The WTO Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong  today (15 December) approved Tonga’s 
terms of accession. This decision paves the way for the South Pacific Island nation to become the 
150th member of the Organization. “The Kingdom of Tonga is pleased that its sustained efforts and 
commitment to a transparent and predictable trading environment have led to its successful membership of the WTO and, through it, to a fuller integration with the world economy,” said 
Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries, Dr. Feleti Sevele.  
 “Ministers’ action at this Sixth Ministerial Conference to welcome the Kingdom of Tonga is truly 
significant. Tonga will not only be set to become the 150
th Member of the Organization, it will also 
be the fourth Pacific Island State to join the WTO after Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. We will continue to work together to facilitate the effective involvement of small 
economies such as Tonga in the work of our Organization,” said Director-General Pascal Lamy. 
 The decision was also welcomed by Chairman of the Working Party, Mr. Stuart Harbinson, “Today 
marks the culmination of much dedicated and construc tive effort on behalf of both the Government 
of Tonga and WTO Members to make Tonga’s access ion a reality. I congratulate all concerned. 
Tonga may be a relatively small economy but, with its unique culture and environment, it will 
certainly enrich the deliberations of the Organization.” 
 Tonga is a South Pacific Island country with a population of approximately 112,000 and an area of 
748 sq km. Per capita income amounts to about US$1,600. Agriculture accounts for 23% of GDP 
and the services sector for 63%.   
The Kingdom of Tonga applied for accession to the WTO in June 1995, but negotiations effectively 
started in April 2001. The terms of membership, which include the Report of the Working Party for the Accession of Tonga, the Protocol of Accessi on, and the Schedules of Tonga’s commitments on 
Market Access for Goods and Services, were adopted by the Working Party on 1 December 2005. 
Those terms will now be ratified by the Governme nt of Tonga, Ministry of Labour, Commerce and 
Industry. Thirty days after having notified the WTO of the completion of this process, Tonga will 
become the 150
th WTO Member.  
 Tonga has agreed to undertake a series of important commitments to continue the liberalization of 
its trade regime and thereby ensure its full participation in the multilateral trading system.  
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 Among the commitments undertaken by Tonga are the following: 
 
• Tonga has been granted transition periods to implement the Customs Valuation Agreement 
and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights until 
1 January 2008 and 1 June 2008 respectively. 
• Tonga will eliminate all industrial subsidy schemes prohibited under the WTO by the date 
of accession. However, actionable subs idies under the WTO will be allowed. 
• Concerning the application of technical standards and regulations, Tonga will apply the 
transparency provisions of the Agreement upon accession. Technical requirements or 
standards and conformity assessment procedures adopted in the future, if any, will be in 
conformity with the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.  
• Tonga will implement the provisions of th e Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures upon accession.  
 
Goods 
With the conclusion of market access negotiations on goods, Tonga has committed to lowering trade barriers and expanding market access for foreign goods over a one year period. By 
1 January 2007, all tariff lines will be bound at 15 or 20 per cent.   
Services 
As a result of the negotiations, Tonga agreed to commitments in 11 sectors.   
 
END