Third Seminar on World Trade Organization Accession: Managing WTO Accession Process - Strategies, Challenges, and Practices

The seminar helped trade officials in non-World Trade Organization (WTO) CAREC countries learn about their key functions before, during, and after the accession process in areas such as

• identifying goals,
• assessing options based on model simulations,
• formulating negotiating strategies and fall-back options, and
• managing the negotiating team and national committee.

The seminar encouraged interaction among trade officials of WTO CAREC countries (People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, and Pakistan) and non-WTO CAREC countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan). It also facilitated sustainable peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and mentoring.

Non-WTO CAREC countries presented their individual country information papers, summarizing the knowledge acquired during the seminar and recommending ways to address particular accession issues. After the event, participants were expected to submit their papers to their trade ministries and brief their colleagues.

The seminar was organized by the Asian Development Bank, ADB Institute, Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center, World Bank Institute, and CAREC Secretariat.