President Michel made a statement at the Cabinet of Ministers, which has been circulated to all WTO members.

According to WTO rules, Seychelles will become a full-fledged member on 26 April 2015.

By depositing the document with Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, Seychelles activated the 30-day countdown to its WTO membership, which will be effective on 26 April 2015.

Seychelles applied for WTO membership in May 1995. It completed its application process on 17 October 2014 when the Working Party concluded its accessions negotiations and adopted the report of the Working Party ad referendum (i.e. subject to formal approval by the General Council).

WTO members officially approved Seychelles' accession on 10 December 2014. The Protocol of Accession (document WT/L/944) was signed by H.E. Mr Pierre Laporte, former Minister of Trade, Finance and Investment, and WTO Director‑General Roberto Azevêdo.

Seychelles is the 33rd government to accede to the rules-based multilateral trading system through Article XII negotiations since the WTO was established in 1995.

More

> Director-General Roberto Azevêdo’s welcoming remarks to Seychelles during the 10 December General Council.

> News item by State House of the Republic of Seychelles on the visit by Ms Hilda Al-Hinai, Chairperson of the Working Party on the Accession of the Republic of Seychelles, and the WTO Secretariat team (Mr Chiedu Osakwe, Director, WTO Accessions; and Ms. Petra Beslać, accession WP Secretary).

The list of Seychelles' commitments is available here.