WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/101 
2 December 2009 
 (09-6183) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   English 
 
  
MONTENEGRO 
 
Statement by HE Dr Gordana Djurovic
 
Minister for International Economic Relations and European Integration  
(Speaking as an Observer ) 
   It is my pleasure, as Minister in the Montenegrin Government, to have an opportunity to 
address the WTO Ministerial Conference.  I am coming from a small European country, the youngest 
UN member.   WTO accession is a strategic priority  for the Government of Montenegro, which has been 
confirmed through a dynamic accession process since February 2005.  In this process, Montenegro 
has fulfilled all obligations on a multilateral level, c oncluded all timely submitted bilateral, and in that 
sense, the draft Final Working Party Report was prep ared on 7 November 2008.  On that meeting, the 
WP concluded that all WTO Members, who would have final comments on the draft WP Report, are to deliver them no later than 21 November.  Fo llowing that day, the WTO Secretariat completed 
Montenegro's application package with consolidated schedules and circulated it to the Members on 
12 December 2008 for final verification procedure. 
 
 Montenegrin accession was scheduled for 3 February 2009  for consideration by the 
General Council.   A year ago, Montenegro was ready to join.  Nevertheless, Montenegro has not become a 
WTO Member yet. 
 
 Why has Montenegro not become the youngest WTO Member so far? 
 
 It is a good question, but unfortunately, it is not possible to provide a simple and easy answer.  However, the facts and figures speak for themselves. 
 
 During the so-called verification procedure, on 19 December 2008, almost one year ago, a 
country, recently acceded to the WTO a few months before, submitted an extremely comprehensive 
market access request .  It is a country whose representative was present only at the last WP meeting 
in November 2008 (when announced that they keep  the right to open bilateral negotiations with 
Montenegro), but it was not done within proposed  the deadlines as defined by the Working Party 
("Master of its own procedures").   Request of the aforementioned count ry to open negotiations came after the consolidated 
schedules  had been circulated to WTO Members.  This  is usually never done, and it is against good 
customary practice in the WTO:  the consolidated ve rsion is supposed to be the last one, for obvious 
reasons;  otherwise, negotiations could go on ad infinitum . 
 WT/MIN(09)/ST/101 
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   One year on , some progress has been achieved, only due to the strong efforts made by 
Montenegro, but we still do not have a deal , after four official bilatera l rounds held.  Unfortunately, 
negotiations were unfruitful because of very st rong requests from this country (request for NAMA 
positions has raised for two, five times) and lack of  any kind of flexibility on their side (that country 
never compromised any of its requests).  So, Montenegro's accession process is blocked .  This is 
extremely disappointing for the Government  and frustrating for its constituencies. 
  Allow me to focus your attention on four important facts : 
  1. Montenegro is one of the smallest European countries with a population of 630,000, 
and presents a small, but very open and liberalized economic environment . 
  2. Simple average FBR in AGRI is 11. 9 per cent, and in NAMA 4.6 per cent 
respectively;  it is one of the lowest average rates in comparison with RAMs and 
Region . 
 
 3. Trade volume with the aforementioned c ountry (the only outstanding bilateral) is 
about 0.02 per cent of total trade (approach is not commercially based) . 
  4. Montenegro has completed the most requ ested part - multilateral and all bilaterals 
except one, i.e. Montenegro has been blocked in accession by a single country for 
one year . 
  Finally, a simple question to be asked is:  Why is WTO Membership such a priority for Montenegro?  Or, what is Montenegro losing if it does not join the WTO?  
 - Firstly, Montenegro already respects all WT O rules, though we are still not officially 
"in".  Consequently, it negatively impacts the image of Montenegro as an attractive 
business destination for FDI, which means less possibilities for economic 
development and prosperity:  the level of country risk for investment and strategic 
economic partnership is higher because the implementation of international trade 
standard is not confirmed by formal WTO Membership. 
 
 - Secondly, postponing WTO accession could slow down the overall process of Euro 
Atlantic integration of Montenegro. 
  - Finally, raising awareness among othe r WTO Members and acceding countries about 
this problem, Montenegro is voicing also fo r its neighbours non-WTO Members .  
Only Balkan as a whole in the WTO is  an attractive investment place. 
  At the end, allow me to thank all Members who have given a clear voice for faster 
accession process and fair negotiations .  We have highly appreciated the understanding shown by 
many countries in their statements during MC7. 
 
 Really, some bilaterals are problematic,  making it so hard to finish .  In that sense, please 
consider strengthening the ombudsman role  for acceding countries.  Consider making new 
documents for rules of accession , which will be focused not only on rules, but also on content of 
negotiations. 
 
 Montenegro expects understanding and support of WTO Members.  This is not a request for 
"third country patronage", but for raising one problem in WTO accession which is not only a 
bilateral issue, but a systemic one .  Montenegro already pays the price with at least one year in this 
"limbo" status of the accession.  WT/MIN(09)/ST/101 
 Page 3 
 
 
   
 Today, it is the problem of Montenegro only.  However, tomorrow it would become the problem of other acceding countries too.   Please have it in mind.  It is our common responsibility . 
 
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