At the meeting of the Working Party, the Bosnian delegation was led by Mr Hamdo Tinjak, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations. Members supported the intensification of work to complete Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the WTO by the 9th Ministerial Conference in December 2013. Members agreed that although the plurilateral negotiations on agriculture have been concluded, negotiations on agricultural policies would continue at the multilateral and bilateral level.

At the multilateral level, the delegations examined the revised draft Working Party Report, which addressed previous comments from WTO members. Regarding the revised Legislative Action Plan submitted to the Working Party, the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina informed members that the few pending issues would be addressed between now and mid-July.

In the bilateral market access negotiations, members welcomed the significant progress made. Furthermore, Bosnia and Herzegovina reported that a bilateral agreement with the United States is within reach.

The Chairperson of the Working Party called on the delegations to conclude the remaining bilateral market access negotiations by the end of June in order to increase the probability of concluding the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Ministerial Conference.

Members expressed their support for a final Working Party meeting in October for the completion of the accession process of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Working Party level, subject to formal completion by the Ministerial Conference in Bali.

"The Accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as we all know, is one of the accessions for priority focus in 2013. I can report that my assessment is that we are on pace and on schedule. We have entered the final lap of Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession," said the Chairperson.

Background information

• Working Party Chairperson: H.E. Dr István Major (Hungary)
• Application received on 29 January 1999
• Working Party established on 15 July 1999
• Latest revision of the Draft Working Party Report (Revision 6): 7 May 2013
• Working Party Secretary: Ms Petra Beslać
• Director of the Accessions Division: Mr Chiedu Osakwe