Monrovia –Liberia on Friday, 14 August 2015, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry wishes to inform the public that a High Level Delegation from the WTO on Liberia's Accession to the World Trade Organization will be visiting Liberia from Tuesday August 18 through Friday, 21, 2015 to present and answer questions on Liberia’s WTO Accession Package. Mr. Joakim Reiter, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession of Liberia, along with Dr. Chiedu Osakwe, Director of the Accessions Division of the WTO, will be in Liberia to engage stakeholders on Liberia’s accession to the WTO.

The visit is a part of the standard protocol of accessions to the WTO for acceding countries that have reached a critical period in the process and are close to concluding their accession. While in Monrovia, the team as guest of the country will be hosted by the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chief Negotiator of Liberia’s Accession, Hon. Axel M. Addy. The team during this critical visit in the process will meet with the executive and legislative branches of government and the private sector. They will present and answer questions on the draft accession package to the Cabinet of the Government of Liberia and other members of Government, including heads of state-owned enterprises. The team will also be meeting with members of National Legislature.  

On Friday, the team will engage the private sector to review the business opportunities in Liberia's Accession Package, in a public forum at Monrovia City Hall from 10:00AM to 12:00PM to be followed by a Press Stakeout at 12:30 at Monrovia City Hall.

Liberia commenced its accession process in 2007 under the leadership of Honorable Olubanke King-Akerele, the Minister of Commerce and Industry. The process gathered momentum under the leadership of Honorable Miatta Beysolow, the Minister of Commerce and Industry at the time.  The government held its first Working Party meeting in 2012. Honorable Axel M. Addy, Liberia's current Minister of Commerce and Industry, working under the former Minister Beysolow inherited the portfolio and since has been facilitating the process and leading the negotiations as Chief Negotiator, in consultation with all Government and private sector stakeholders.  Under his leadership, Liberia has tabled its market access offers on Goods (Tariff using ECOWAS CET), Services, and Rules (Legislative Action Plan). Liberia concluded its 3rd Working Party and all bilateral negotiations in July in accordance with its roadmap to accede in December in Nairobi at the 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) of the World Trade Organization. This will be the first time a WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Africa and at which occasion the Organization will conclude the year-long celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the rules-based Multilateral Trading System. Liberia will hold its final Working Party in early October where the final Draft Accession Package will be presented to WTO Members for approval ad referendum.  The final formal decision shall be taken at the Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.  

Liberia’s Accession has been supported by the Swedish National Board of Trade (SIDA/NBT), International Trade Center (ITC), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Advisory Center on WTO Law (ACWL), World Bank, Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), and Geneva-based Law Firm of King and Spalding.http://www.moci.gov.lr/doc/MoCI.Media.Advisory.WTOMissiontoLiberia0818to2115.FINAL.081215.pdf